NOV  1 7  1917 


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BL    51    .B726    1917 

Brandenburg,  Walter  E. 

The  philosophy  of  Christian 


ho 


T  no- 


THE   PHILOSOPHY   OF 
CHRISTIAN    BEING 


BY 


WALTEH  E.  BRANDENBURG,  A.M. 


.J  "  ■  'K 

NOV  17  191' 


vM 


BOSTON 

SHERMAN,  FRENCH  &  COMPANY 

1917 


Copyright,  1917 
Sherman,  French  6*  Company 


TO  THE  MEMORY  OF 

MY  FATHER, 

NOW  IN  HEAVEN.  WHO  READ  WITH 
SUPREME  SATISFACTION  MOST 
OF  THE  MANUSCRIPT,  AND 
WHO  WAS  DEEPLY   IN- 
TERESTED   IN    THE 
SUBJECTS  HERE- 
IN DISCUSSED 


INTRODUCTION 

Christianity  has  fundamentals.  They  are  the 
cardinal  doctrines  relating  to  Jesus  Christ.  De- 
stroy belief  in  any  of  them,  and  all  are  reduced 
to  devitalized  formulas  of  thinking  and  living. 

One  of  these  fundamentals,  central  to  all,  is  the 
resurrection  of  Jesus.  Without  his  resurrection, 
sin  has  no  atonement,  and  there  is  no  hope  for  our 
dead.  Christianity  itself  is  supported  by  false 
witnesses,  as  declared  by  the  Apostle  Paul. 

Co-related  to  that  subject  are  the  incarnation, 
doctrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  death  and  ascen- 
sion of  Christ.  These  have  been  presented  so 
many  times  in  familiar  form  that  their  attractive- 
ness is  sicklied  over.  A  fresh  presentation  from 
the  scientific  viewpoint  by  sound  reasoning  will  do 
good. 

The  chapters  of  this  volume  have  been  con- 
structed out  of  sermonic  material,  begotten  by  a 
yearning  desire  to  convince  doubters,  answer  dis- 
believers, and  confirm  Disciples  of  Christ.  To 
render  this  threefold  service,  the  author  submits 
facts,  quotes  utterances  of  thinkers,  applies 
Scripture  and  argues  to  logical  conclusions  from 
the  premises  he  submits. 


INTRODUCTION 

An  empty  tomb  at  Jerusalem  was  the  objective 
for  which  the  Crusaders  in  their  zealous  struggles 
under  mighty  leaders  like  Godfrey  and  Richard 
Coeur  de  Lion  battled.  The  possession  of  that 
empty  tomb  could  make  no  contribution  to  the 
world's  thought  or  salvation.  The  living,  reg- 
nant Christ  who  emerged  from  that  tomb  as  Con- 
queror of  Death  alone  can  lead  the  world's  forces 
to  victory.  His  resurrection  accounts  for  its 
emptiness. 

Mr.  Brandenburg's  trained  mind,  ardent  love 
of  research  and  genuine  motive  to  serve  make  liis 
book  worthy  of  study. 

I.  N.  McCash, 
President,  Phillips  University, 

Enid,  Oklahoma. 


PREFACE 

The  author,  in  his  study  of  Philosophy,  came 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  distance  made  to  ap- 
pear between  Christian  teaching  on  the  one  hand 
and  philosophy  on  the  other  was  largely  imag- 
inary. He  felt  that  many  who  had  written  in 
one  or  the  other  of  these  realms  of  thought  had 
done  so  with  too  little  regard  to  the  principles 
and  teaching  in  the  other;  that  the  tendency  of 
this  policy,  in  the  reaches  of  the  years,  had  re- 
sulted in  an  almost  complete  separation  of  two 
kindred  and  very  closely  related  branches  of 
learning.  Tliis  situation  had  produced  an  im- 
pression among  college  professors  and  students 
generally  that  philosophy  was  a  thing  of  the  ut- 
most importance,  while  Christian  teaching  was  of 
little  consequence,  and  that  in  all  matters  where 
there  was  conflict  or  seeming  conflict,  the  voice 
and  authority  of  philosophy  was  to  be  given  the 
preference. 

Thus  no  little  injustice  had  been  wrought  upon 
both  these  branches  of  learning,  for  while  philos- 
ophy seemed  to  have  the  advantage,  yet  that  very 
condition  made  it  a  thing  that  was  held  in  sus- 
picion by  large  numbers  of  Christian  people. 
Many  seem  to  have  the  impression  that  if  one  is 
to  study  philosophy  to  any  extent,  his  usefulness 


PREFACE 

in  the  ministry  will  thereby  be  diminished,  if  not 
entirely  destroyed.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are 
those,  not  a  few  in  number,  who  hold  that  for  one 
not  to  study  philosophy  would  mean,  not  only 
that  he  is  limited  in  his  range  of  thought,  but 
that  he  is  limited  also  in  liis  ability  to  tliink. 

The  writer  soon  came  to  the  conviction  that 
neither  one  of  these  two  realms  of  thought  has  a 
monopoly  upon  any  fundamental  principle  and  its 
related  truths ;  that  in  so  far  as  philosophy  is 
true,  its  truths  are  universal  truths.  But  the 
truths  of  Christianity  are  likewise  universal 
truths.  This  fact,  therefore,  relates  these  two 
realms  of  thought  inseparably.  Hence,  any 
classification  of  knowledge  that  makes  it  appear 
otherwise  is  arbitrary,  and  not  real.  Further- 
more, all  such  classification  is  apt  to  be  detrimen- 
tal, rather  than  helpful,  to  the  gaining  of  real 
knowledge.  In  the  author's  view,  all  fundamental 
principles,  with  all  related  truths,  should  be  but 
bridges,  spanning  the  seeming  chasms  between  any 
two  or  more  realms  of  human  thought. 

It  has  appeared  to  him  that  philosophy  could 
fittingly  act  as  a  background  upon  which  to  paint 
the  great  fundamental  doctrines  of  Christianity ; 
that  this  should  be  done  by  bringing  into  bold  re- 
lief the  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation,  the  death  and 
resurrection,  the  ascension  and  coronation,  the 
incarnation  of  the  Spirit,  the  beginning  of  the 
church,  the  law  of  its  growth,  and  so  forth, — 
these  great  first  facts  which  were  the  soil  whence 


PREFACE 

Christianity  sprang.  Set  in  this  relationship, 
neither  philosophy  nor  Christianity  would  suffer, 
but  both  would  be  strengthened  inherently,  and 
would  enjoy  a  degree  of  confidence  wliich  prob- 
ably neither  has  at  the  present. 

This  little  volume  has  been  designed  in  response 
to  the  earnest  solicitation  of  many  colleagues, 
student  friends,  and  Christian  workers  in  all 
phases  of  religious  work,  to  whom  much  of  the 
subject  matter  has  been  presented  in  conferences, 
ministerial  institutes,  and  convention  addresses. 
The  volume  is  sent  forth  in  the  hope  and  belief 
that  all  students  in  colleges  and  universities,  who 
are  preparing  for  the  ministry  or  other  lines  of 
church  work,  will  find  in  it  a  mine  of  suggestive- 
ness  if  taken  either  as  a  brief  course  or  in  con- 
nection with  regular  courses  in  theology  and  phi- 
losophy. The  book,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  the  chapter  on  philosophy,  will  be  found  to  be 
so  simple  in  its  presentation  of  the  various  themes 
discussed  as  to  be  readily  understood  by  any  and 
all  who  may  have  been  troubled  with  misgivings 
upon  some  of  the  great  basic  facts  of  Christian- 
ity. It  is,  therefore,  recommended  to  all  Sunday 
School  teachers  and  workers,  all  ministers  in 
active  sei^vice  of  the  church,  all  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  secretaries  and  their  classes 
and  to  all  others  who  wish  for  a  deeper  and 
clearer  understanding  of  the  fundamental  truths 
of  Christianity,  as  these  truths  may  relate  them- 
selves to  any  true  philosophy. 

The  Author. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I     The  Philosophic  Basis  for  the  Begin- 
ning OF  Christianity 1 

II     The  Word  Made  Flesh 33 

III     The  Naturalness  of  the  Resurrection     44 

IV     The  Resurrection  Meets  Demands  of 

Psychology 55 

V  The  Resurrection 67 

VI  Things  Pertaining  to  the  Kingdom      ,  79 

VII  The  Ten  Days  of  Prayer    ....  91 

VIII  The  Baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  .      .  102 

IX     The  Problem  and  Process  of  Growth 

for  a  New  Type  of  Being      .      .      .115 

X     Christian      Liberality      Meeting     an 

Emergency 127 

XI     A  Miracle  Wrought  That  the  King- 
dom Might  Grow 137 


THE  PHILOSOPHIC  BASIS  FOR  THE 
BEGINNING  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

In  attempting  a  discussion  of  so  lofty  a  theme 
as  the  above,  a  writer  naturally  feels  his  unpre- 
paredness  in  the  field  of  philosophy  as  well  as 
his  unworthiness  to  deal  with  so  glorious  a  period 
of  Christianity  as  its  beginning.  Yet,  in  an  age 
of  material  allurement,  unscientific  rationalism 
and  unintellectual  infidelity,  if  one  could,  by  philo- 
sophic conclusions,  cause  a  ripple  in  the  already 
somewhat  troubled  waters  of  the  stream  of  hu- 
man thought  in  its  onward  flow,  one  would  cer- 
tainly feel  amply  rewarded. 

Philosophy  we  shall  understand  in  its  usual 
meaning: 

"  Philosophy  is  a  search  for  a  comprehensive 
view  of  nature,  an  attempt  at  a  universal  explana- 
tion of  things.  It  is  both  the  summary  of  the 
sciences  and  their  completion ;  both  general  sci- 
ence and  a  speciality  distinguished  from  science 
proper;  and,  like  its  elder  sisters,  religion  and 
poetry,  forms  a  separate  branch  among  the  mani- 
festations of  the  human  mind."  ^ 

1  Webeh  —  History  of  Philosophy;  p.  1. 


2  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

"  But  philosophy  publishes  results  which  claim 
to  be  universally  valid  if  they  are  valid  at  all."  ^ 

"  Science  is  partially  unified  knowledge ;  philos- 
ophy is  completely  unified  knowledge."  ^ 

Christianity  shall  mean  for  us,  in  time,  a  life 
of  internal  peace  and  intense  activity,  resulting 
from  one's  being  brought  into  right  relationship 
with  God  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  which  brings 
one,  in  eternity,  into  his  complete  self  and  into 
full  harmony  with  his  Creator.  It  is  seen  at  once 
that  the  idea  of  Christianity  differs  from  the  or- 
dinary definition  or  idea  of  religion,  as  such,  by 
a  difference  as  great  as  there  is  between  the  liv- 
ing voice,  or  the  touch  or  companionship  of  a 
divinely  energized  individual  on  the  one  hand,  and 
the  cold,  lifeless,  abstract  reasonings  and  experi- 
ences of  a  frail  finite  being  on  the  other.  Or  in 
other  words,  any  definition  of  Christianity  that 
would  leave  out  the  Christ  idea  would  not  neces- 
sarily differ  from  the  generally  received  idea  of 
religion. 

We  are  dealing  with  Christianity.  So  that  our 
field  necessarily  limits  itself.  Not  taking  into  ac- 
count that  vast  field  of  religious  experiences  or 
of  philosophic  speculations  on  natural  religion, 
only  in  so  far  as  these  may  serve  in  the  solution 
of  the  problem  before  us,  namely,  the  application 
of  philosophic  reasoning  to  Christianity,  in  order 
to  discover  the  basis   for  its  beginning.     It  will 

2  James  —  Varieties  of  Religious  Experiences;  p.  430. 

3  Spencer  —  First  Principles;  p.  119. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  8 

be  seen  that  our  problem  further  limits  and  sim- 
plifies itself  by  the  fact  that  we  are  to  discuss 
Christianity  with  respect  to  its  beginning  and 
not  to  its  history.  So  that  whether  as  applied 
to  Christianity,  politic  or  individual,  our  discus- 
sion need  only  cover  a  comparatively  short  period 
of  time.  If  the  application  be  with  respect  to 
the  beginning  of  Christianity  on  the  earth,  then 
the  problem  is  politic  and  would  necessitate  a 
careful  scrutinizing  of  the  phenomena  in  produc- 
ing the  first  Christian.  And  if  the  application 
be  with  respect  to  the  beginning  of  the  Christian 
life  in  the  individual,  then  the  discussion  turns 
upon  that  portion  of  the  individual's  life  in  which 
he  is  becoming  a  Christian.  The  problem,  then, 
as  I  understand  it,  lies  in  these  two  fields.  For 
the  present,  I  think  this  suflicient  as  to  the  limita- 
tions of  the  subject.  And  yet,  I  am  sure  that 
further  on  we  shall  have  to  make  this  still  more 
explicit. 

Now  as  to  the  philosophic  instruments  which 
are  at  our  hand  and  are  for  our  use  in  this  under- 
taking we  may  need  to  take  every  precaution, 
both  in  the  selection  of  the  instrument  and  also 
in  its  use ;  for  a  mistake  here  may  result  in  tak- 
ing the  life  of  the  very  thing  which  we  would  re- 
store to  philosophic  soundness.  The  question 
naturally  arises,  then,  are  we  to  accept  out  of 
the  many  some  ready  made  philosophic  instru- 
ment to  the  exclusion  of  all  others.''  And  if  so, 
which  one?     Or  are  we  to  accept  and  use  them 


4  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

all;  each  in  its  turn  as  it  may  suit  our  fancy, 
or  serve  our  purpose?  If  these  different  philo- 
sophic instruments  were  but  so  many  component 
parts  of  the  apparatus  of  one  great  philosoph- 
ical laboratory,  then  prudence  would  suggest  the 
latter.  But  since  each  instrument  claims  to  be 
complete  in  and  of  itself,  the  second  alternative 
is  not  open  to  us.  Then  as  a  third  alternative, 
shall  we  thrust  all  these  instruments  into  the  cru- 
cible of  human  thought  and  recast  them,  sepa- 
rating all  the  alloy,  and  bring  forth  the  instru- 
ment with  which  to  perform  this  most  delicate  and 
no  less  important  operation?  This  were  too 
great  an  undertaking.  The  writer  lays  no  claim 
to  originality  in  the  production  of  tliis  instru- 
ment. If  there  is  any  merit  or  novelty  in  this 
undertaking,  it  is  in  the  skill  with  which  the  ready 
made  instrument  is  applied  to  the  subject  in  hand. 
Hence,  it  is  the  former  of  the  three  alternatives 
that  is  open  to  us  at  this  time. 

Professor  Josiah  Royce,  in  the  first  series  of 
his  GifFord  lectures,  delivered  in  the  University 
of  Aberdeen,  entitled  "  The  World  and  The  Indi- 
vidual," presents  and  discusses  what  he  terms 
"  The  Four  Historical  Conceptions  of  Being." 
After  a  vigorous  examination  of  three  of  these 
conceptions ;  viz., —  Realism,  Mysticism  and  Crit- 
ical Rationahsm,  in  which  Mr.  Royce  shows  the 
weakness  of  any  one,  or  all  three,  of  these  to 
fully  satisfy  and  explain  the  phenomena  of  being, 
he  presents  what  he  terms  the  "  Fourth  Concep- 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  5 

tion  of  Being."  This  is  not  wholly  different  from 
all  of  these  other  conceptions,  but  to  me  it  seems 
to  contain  all  of  the  elements  of  strength  found 
in  the  other  conceptions,  and  also  to  be  void  of 
many  of  the  weaknesses  which  are  so  apparent  in 
the  other  theories  of  being. 

Of  course  it  is  not  my  intention  to  discuss  or 
contrast  these  theories,  for  this  would  require  a 
volume,  not  only  materially  but  mentally  as  well; 
and  while  I  could  probably  furnish  the  former,  I 
do  not  claim  the  latter.  I  shall  say,  therefore, 
that,  in  the  main,  I  accept  this  theory  of  being 
in  so  far  as  at  present  I  understand  it. 

I  proceed  to  state  it  as  clearly  and  briefly  as 
I  can.  It  is  a  theory,  not  so  much  of  the 
origin  of  being,  as  it  is  of  the  true  natwre  of 
what  it  is  to  be  or  to  exist.  And  yet,  it  seems 
to  have  within  it  a  place  for  the  origin  of  being 
also.  The  author's  chief  energy  seems  to  be  ex- 
pended in  an  attempt  to  see  and  to  explain  things 
as  they  are.  Or  in  his  own  opening  words,  "  But 
the  central  problem  of  our  discussion  will  be 
the  question :  What  is  Reality'  ?  "  ^  Or  again, 
"  My  precise  undertaking,  then,  in  the  following 
lectures,  is  to  show  what  we  mean  by  being  in 
general,  and  by  the  special  sorts  of  Reality  that 
we  attribute  to  God,  to  the  World  and  to  the 
human  individual."  ^  "I  shall  dwell  upon  the 
nature  of  being,"   etc.®     Others   might  be   cited, 

4  First  Series;  p.  6.  5  Ibid.,  p.  11. 

6  Ibid.,  p.  12. 


6  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

but  these  I  think  sufficiently  set  before  us  the  au- 
thor's thought  that  his  chief  problem  will  be  to 
discover  the  real  nature  of  being. 

Mr.  Royce's  Fourth  Conception  of  Being,  as  I 
understand  it,  is  the  final  and  complete  expression 
or  embodied  form  of  the  surviving  purposes  that 
have  ideated  in  the  consciousness  of  the  being, 
whether  we  have  reference  to  God,  the  world,  or 
the  individual.  To  use  his  words,  "  What  is,  or 
what  is  real,  is  as  such  the  complete  embodiment, 
in  individual  form  and  in  final  fulfillment,  of  the 
internal  meaning  of  finite  ideas."  ' 

"  And,  therefore,  we  can  say,  never  in  the 
present  life  do  we  find  the  Self  as  a  given  and  real- 
ized fact.  It  is  for  us  an  ideal.  Its  true  place 
is  in  the  eternal  world,  where  all  plans  are  ful- 
filled. In  God  alone  do  we  fully  come  to  our- 
selves." ® 

As  I  said,  this  theory  does  not  primarily  deal 
with  the  origin  of  being;  and  yet,  there  seems  to 
be  a  partial  treatment  of  the  origin  of  being. 
This,  however,  will  be  treated  further  on  in  this 
discussion. 

From  this  conception  of  being,  it  will  be  seen 
that  in  time  there  is  all  the  while  a  ceaseless  chang- 
ing of  this  being.  For  ideas  are  being  incubated 
at  every  instant;  some  to  perish  at  once,  others 
to  be  expressed  in  purposes  which  find  their  imme- 
diate expression,  thus  becoming  a  permanent  part 

7  First  Series;  p.  339. 

8  §econ^  Series;  p.  290, 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  7 

of  being.  Still  others  find  expression  in  purposes 
reaching  far  into  the  future  for  their  embodiment. 
So  that  as  innumerable  ideas  spring  up  ceaselessly 
within  the  "  stream  of  consciousness,"  so  do  these 
crystallize  into  permanent  form  in  being  in  the 
labyrinth  of  the  everyday  experiences  of  the  indi- 
vidual. 

It  is  also  seen  that  in  this  conception  there  is 
the  connection  of  "  internal  and  external  mean- 
ing "  or  purpose.  And  that  the  uncrystallized 
or  unearned  out  purpose  of  the  idea,  if  it  be 
a  true  idea,  is  as  truly  being  of  the  being  as  is 
the  already  completed  purpose.  Or  that  there 
can  be  no  sundering  of  the  "  that "  and  the 
"  what  "  in  true  being.  "  The  that  thus  comes 
into  unity  with  the  what."  ^ 

This  theory  teaches  also  that  not  only  is  there 
the  linkage  of  "  internal  and  external  meaning," 
as  pertains  to  human  individuals,  but  that  this 
same  principle  holds  true  with  respect  to  God. 
That  is,  that  in  God  all  being  is  united  and  ex- 
ists. "  All  appearance  of  isolation  in  finite  be- 
ings, all  the  fragmentariness  of  their  finitude, 
these  are  indeed  but  aspects  of  the  whole  truth." 
"  The  One  is  in  all,  and  all  are  in  the  One."  .  .  . 
"  For  God  is  the  Absolute  Being  and  the  perfect 
fullness  of  life."  ^^  All  being,  all  existence,  all 
life,  then,  however  much  of  seeming  variety  there 
may  be,  is  but  the  expression  of  God.  And  if 
seen  in  its  entirety,  it  would  constitute  God  as  the 
9  First  Series;  p.  387.  lo  Ibid.,  p.  394. 


8  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

One  Absolute  Being  inclusive  of  all  others.  So 
that  all  that  is,  is  but  the  outworkings  of  the 
purposes  of  God.  In  hell  itself,  the  wicked  will 
be  in  God,  through  all  eternity,  only  working  out 
the  purposes  of  God.  For  we  all  are  in  this  Ab- 
solute Being  always. 

We,  however,  as  finite  beings  included  in  this 
Infinite  Being,  have  all  the  liberty  and  freedom  of 
will  that  we  have  capacity  for  using.  And  this 
is  the  only  sense  in  which  Ave  may  think  or  speak 
of  any  individual  as  having  a  free  choice  of  will, 
or  of  being  a  free  moral  agent.  And,  therefore, 
to  ask  for  or  demand  more  freedom  is  to  desire  a 
different  nature  or  constitution. 

I  will  let  this  serve  in  general  as  a  brief  state- 
ment of  my  understanding  of  INIr.  Royce's  Fourth 
Conception  of  Being ;  and  as  I  said,  this  is  the 
philosophic  instrument  which  I  shall  use  in  the 
present  undertaking;  viz.,  to  discover  the  philo- 
sophic basis  underlying  the  beginning  of  Chris- 
tianity on  the  earth  and  also  in  the  human  indi- 
vidual. 

And  now,  permit  me  to  repeat  my  definition  of 
Christianity.  Christianity  is,  in  time,  a  life  of 
internal  peace  and  intense  activity,  resulting  from 
one's  being  brought  into  right  relationship  with 
God  through  Jesus  Christ,  and  a  life  which  brings 
one,  in  eternity,  into  complete  embodiment  and 
harmony  with  his  Creator.  "  For  which  cause  we 
faint  not;  but  through  our  outward  man  perish, 
yet   the   inward   man   is   renewed   day    by    day." 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  9 

"  For  our  light  affliction,  which  is  but  for  a  mo- 
ment, (time)   worketh  for  us  a  far  more  exceed- 
ing   and    eternal    (eternity)    weight    of    glory." 
"  While  we  look  not  at  the  things  which  are  seen, 
but   at   the   things   which   are   not   seen :   for   the 
things  which  are  seen  are  temporal ;  but  the  things 
which  are  not  seen  are  eternal."  ^^     "  For  I  am 
shortly  to  be  sacrificed  and  the  time  of  my  de- 
parture is   at  hand;  I  have  combated  the  good 
combat;  I  have  finished  the  race;  I  have  contin- 
ued faithful;  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me 
a   crown    of   righteousness,   which  the   Lord,   the 
righteous    Judge,    will    deliver    to    me    at    that 
day."  ^^     "Look!     I  see  the  heavens  opened  and 
the   Son   of  man  standing  at   the   right  hand  of 
God !"..."  Lord  Jesus,  accept  my  spirit."  ^^ 
"  Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus."  ^^     These  examples 
indicate  the  readiness  with  which  the  Christian  is 
willing  to  quit  time  and  enter  eternity. 

And  now,  I  wish  you  to  consider  with  me  Pro- 
fessor Royce's  Fourth  Conception  of  Being  in  the 
light  of  Scriptural  teaching,  in  which  I  hope  that 
we  shall  see  that  it  is  not  far  from  the  Scriptural 
idea  of  what  it  is  to  be. 

But  before  we  do  this,  we  must  ask  the  ques- 
tion, is  it  possible,  according  to  this  conception  of 
being,  for  an  individual  to  be  in  the  Absolute  and 
yet  not  know  that  fact?     And  just  because  of  a 

11  Paul  — 7/  Cor.  4:16-18. 

12  Paul  —  II  Tim.  4:6-8;  Living  Oracles. 

13  Stephen  —  Acts  7:56,  59;  Ferrar  Penton's  Translation. 
1-1  John  — 2?e».  23:20. 


10  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

want  of  this  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  indi- 
vidual, to  live  a  life  of  rebellion  against  that 
"larger  self"  the  Absolute  in  which  he  exists? 
To  both  of  these  questions  we  must  answer  in  the 
affirmative.  Professor  Royce  feels  this  to  be  true. 
For  in  his  Second  Series  he  devotes  one  whole  lec- 
ture to  the  treatment  of  the  subject,  "  The  Strug- 
gle with  Evil." 

And  our  answer  is  in  perfect  accord  with  Paul's 
words  to  the  Athenians  as  he  addressed  them  upon 
the  topic  found  upon  one  of  their  altars  of  wor- 
ship — "  To  The  Unknown  God."  In  the  address 
Paul  said,  "  Whom  therefore  ye  ignorantly  wor- 
ship, Him  declare  I  unto  you."  ^^  Here  were 
individuals,  who,  according  to  our  Fourth  Con- 
ception, were  in  God,  and  yet,  according  to  their 
own  testimony  upon  their  altar  of  worship,  they 
did  not  even  know  God ;  much  less  did  they  know 
that  they  existed  in  Him.  And  also,  according  to 
Paul,  they  did  not  know  God.  But  yet,  Paul 
states  positively  that  they  were  in  God.  "  For 
in  Him  we  live,  and  move  and  have  our  be- 
ing." ^°  We  must  bear  in  mind  that  these  are 
not  Christian  people,  and  yet,  Paul  declares 
that  they  are  in  God.  Now  if  they  are  in 
God,  and  yet,  do  not  know  God,  they  can  not 
know  the  relation  that  exists  between  God  and 
themselves.  And  hence,  they  will  be  liable  to 
courses  of  conduct  that  are  contemptible  in  the 
sight  of  God,  and  Paul  intimates  that  this  is  ex- 
16  Acts  17:23.  la  Acts  17:28. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  11 

actlj  the  case.  "  For  as  much,  then,  as  we  are 
the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought  not  to  think  that 
the  Godhead  is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone 
graven  by  art  and  man's  device."  ^^  This  he  said, 
condemning  their  conduct  as  wrong  in  the  sight 
of  God,  in  presuming  to  make  and  worship  a  like- 
ness of  God  out  of  dead  material.  Of  course  this 
is  particular.  But  Paul  makes  the  same  prin- 
ciple general  in  his  statement  to  the  Corinthians, 
"  For  when,  in  the  Divine  Philosophy,  the  world 
did  not  perceive  the  God  through  the  philosophy, 
it  pleased  God  to  save  the  faithful  by  means  of 
the  folly  of  preaching."  ^*  Paul  claims  with  our 
Fourth  Conception  of  Being,  that  we  are  all  in 
God,  and  yet,  he  makes  this  statement  of  the 
world  in  general,  that  it  "  knew  not  "  or  "  did  not 
perceive  God."  "  Awake  to  perfect  sobriety  and 
sin  not ;  for  an  ignorance  of  God  possesses 
some."  ^^  Another  utterance  of  Paul's,  embody- 
ing the  same  thought,  is  in  the  Ephesian  letter, 
"  One  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and 
through  all,  and  in  you  all."  ^^  So  much,  then, 
on  the  thought  of  our  being  in  the  Absolute  and 
not  knowing  it,  and  consequently  of  a  liability  to 
a  course  of  deeds  that  is  out  of  harmony  with 
the  purposes  of  the  Absolute. 

And  now,  we  are  ready  to  consider  more  par- 
ticularly some  of  the  Scripture  references  which, 

iiActg  17:29. 

18 1  Cor.  1 :  21 ;  Ferrar  Fenton's  Translation. 

19  Paul  —  I  Cor,  15:34;  Ferrar  Fenton's  Translation. 

20Eph.  4:6. 


12  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

in  general,  corroborate  the  principles  set  forth  by 
our  Fourth  Conception  of  Being.  Chief  among 
these  principles  is  the  idea  of  our  incompleteness 
in  this  life,  or  the  lack  of  our  being  fully  embodied 
in  our  complete  and  individual  form  in  this  state 
of  our  existence.  Or  in  other  words,  that  we  ex- 
ist in  time  only  fragmentarily ;  and  that  in  eter- 
nity we  will  be  completely  embodied  and  fully  ex- 
pressed. John  says  that,  "  We  are  now  the  chil- 
dren of  God ;  and  it  is  not  yet  revealed  what  we 
shall  become.  But  we  do  know  that  when  He 
is  manifested,  we  shall  be  like  Him ;  because  we 
shall  see  Him  as  he  actually  is.^^ 

This  scripture  emphasizes  three  facts,  all  of 
which  are  set  forth  in  our  Fourth  Conception  of 
Being:  First,  that  we  are  children  of  God  and, 
therefore,  necessarily  in  God;  second,  that  we  in 
this  life  are  not  complete,  but  only  partially  so, 
and  are  to  become  fully  expressed  after  time ;  and 
third,  that  we  now  do  not  fully  and  completely 
know  God. 

Paul  sets  this  forth  in  the  following:  "But 
as  for  eloquence,  it  will  cease ;  as  for  languages, 
they  will  be  silent ;  as  for  science,  it  will  become 
useless.  For  we  know  imperfectly,  and  we  teach 
with  imperfection ;  but  when  the  perfect  arrives, 
the  imperfect  will  become  useless.  When  I  was 
a  child  I  spoke  like  a  child,  I  thought  like  a  child, 
I  reflected  like  a  child ;  but  when  I  became  a  man, 
the  ideas  of  the  child  were  useless.     For  we  look 

21/  John  3:2;  Ferrar  Fenton's  Translation. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  13 

now  (in  time)  through  a  loop  hole  into  the  dark- 
ness;  but  then  (in  eternity)  face  to  face:  now  I 
know  partially;  but  then  I  shall  know  perfectly, 
even  as  I  am  perfectly  known."  ^^ 

So  much,  then,  in  general,  on  our  fragmentari- 
ness  or  incompleteness  in  time,  and  our  complete 
embodiment  in  eternity.  And  here  also  the  Scrip- 
tural teaching  seems  to  accord  with  our  Fourth 
Conception  of  Being. 

We  now  pass  to  a  consideration  of  the  origin 
of  being.  We  can  not  think  of  Christianity  as 
other  than  a  state  of  being;  a  life  that  is  lived 
according  to  our  definition.  And  as  our  present 
undertaking  has  to  do  with  Christianity  in  its  be- 
ginning, both  on  the  earth  and  in  the  individual, 
we  see  at  once  that  this  is  the  question  in  this 
discussion  which  is  of  chiefest  interest  for  us. 
And  as  we  are  using  the  Fourth  Conception  of 
Being  as  a  means  or  instrument  in  the  solution  of 
this  problem,  it  is  proper  that  we  here  acquaint 
ourselves  with  the  origin  of  being  according  to 
this  Fourth  Conception. 

As  was  remarked,  a  few  lines  back,  the  Fourth 
Conception  does  not  deal  so  much  with  the 
origm  as  with  the  nature  of  being.  Now  this  is 
particularly  true  with  reference  to  the  Absolute 
Being.  But  the  theory  does  discuss  the  origin 
of  the  human  individual,  in  time,  as  a  type  of  be- 
ing. And  since  in  this  production  we  are  dis- 
cussing a  type  of  being  existing  within  the  human 

22/  Cor.  13:8-125  Ferrar  Fenton's  Translation. 


14  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

individual,  our  Fourth  Conception  will  be  sufficient 
to  meet  the  needs  of  our  present  undertaking. 

"  An  explanation  of  the  particular  existence  of 
this  finite  consciousness  can  be  given,  therefore, 
only  in  one  of  two  forms :  First,  in  terms  of  uni- 
versal principles,  in  so  far  as  without  just  this 
finitude  the  eternal  purpose  would  not  obtain  the 
wealth  of  individual  expression  that  it  actually 
possesses ;  or  secondly,  in  terms  of  the  particular 
relations  of  each  finite  being,  in  so  far  as  it  is 
what  it  is  in  consequence  of  the  presence  in  the 
world,  and  especially  in  the  temporal  past,  of 
other  finite  beings,  whose  nature  and  acts  required 
some  aspect  of  its  own  life  as  their  resultant. 

"  Consequently,  any  effort  to  give  an  account 
of  the  temporal  origin  and  evolution  of  any  par- 
ticular finite  being,  such  as  one  of  ourselves,  must 
follow  the  second  of  these  forms  of  explanation, 
and  cannot  undertake  to  give  an  account  of  the 
origin  of  all  finitude.  The  question  about  the  evo- 
lution of  new  forms  of  finite  life  then  becomes 
this:  What  conditions  of  the  previous  finite  life 
of  the  world  explain  why,  just  at  this  point,  a 
new  Self  should  begin  to  appear?  Or  again,  to 
put  the  question  a  little  more  generally,  our 
former  theory  as  to  evolution  accepted  the  thesis 
that  humanity,  as  a  whole,  has  sprung  from  some 
nonhuman  process  of  experience  which  before  our 
special  type  of  selfhood  appeared  was  taking  place 
in  the  natural  world.  This  previous  process,  we 
have   said,   was    no   doubt   in   itself   a   conscious 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  16 

process,  perhaps  possessing  a  type  of  conscious- 
ness whose  '  temporal  span '  was  more  or  less  dif- 
ferent from  our  own  just  because  its  present  in- 
terest was  always  expressed  by  a  longer  or  shorter 
series  of  facts  than  we  now  at  present  take  into 
account.  But,  in  any  case,  it  was  not  what  we 
should  have  called  a  human  process.  How  came 
it  to  give  origin  to  a  process  of  our  type.''  "  ^^ 

"  What  interests  us  here  is  simply  the  problem ; 
given  such  forms  of  finite  striving,  how  could  new 
forms,  new  selves,  arise  from  them.''  What  about 
their  nature  makes  them  fruitful  of  new  types  of 
individuality.?  What  constitutes  a  new  form  of 
finite  life  and  experience  —  a  new  sort  of  self- 
hood.'* A  new  form  of  selfhood  means  simply  the 
appearance  (as  in  our  own  case)  of  a  new  type 
of  interest  in  the  world,  in  God  and  in  finding 
the  way  to  self  expression.  A  new  individual 
is  thus  never  a  new  thing,  but  a  new  kind  of 
life-purpose,  finding  unique  individual  embodiment 
in  experience  by  means  of  definite  acts."  ^* 

From  the  foregoing,  two  things,  at  least,  are 
apparent:  First,  that  new  selves  do  originate  in 
time;  and  second,  that  these  new  selves  are  never 
new  things,  but  new  life  purposes. 

So  much  for  the  first  principle  of  the  origin  of 
being  according  to  our  Fourth  Conception. 

But  now  we  wish  to  ask,  does  this  accord  with 
the  Scriptural  teaching  relative  to  the  origin  of 

23  Second  Series;  p.  304-305. 
2i  Ibid.,  p.  308. 


16  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

Christian  Being?  And  our  answer,  whether  the 
appHcation  is  to  the  beginning  of  Christianity  on 
the  earth  or  in  the  individual,  must  be  in  the  af- 
firmative. 

And  now,  we  are  at  the  place  where  it  will  be 
necessary  for  us  to  understand  more  explicitly  the 
limitations  of  our  theme;  or  in  other  words,  just 
what  we  mean  by  the  beginning  of  Christianity  on 
the  earth  and  in  the  individual.  By  the  beginning 
of  Christianity  on  the  earth  we  shall  understand 
beginning  in  the  same  sense  in  which  Peter  ex- 
presses his  understanding  of  it  in  the  Jerusalem 
conference.  "  And  as  I  began  to  speak,  the  Holy 
Spirit  fell  on  them  (the  Gentile  household  of 
Cornelius)  as  on  us  (the  Apostles  —  Jews  by  na- 
tionality) at  the  beginning."  ^^  From  this  we 
gather  that  Peter  understood  that  the  coming  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  into  the  Apostles  on  Pentecost 
marked  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era,  or  of 
Christianity  on  the  earth. 

And,  indeed,  does  not  this  mark  the  instant  in 
the  life  of  each  one  of  these  twelve  men,  when 
he  is  lifted  into  a  new  universe?  And  in  which 
he  is  filled  with  a  new  "life  purpose"?  And 
with  a  sense  of  new  relations  to  God  and  to 
his  fellowmen?  A  state  in  which  he  is  not  a 
"  new  thing "  but  an  individual  having  a  "  new 
kind  of  life  purpose,"  which  impels  him  on,  "  find- 
ing unique  individual  embodiment  in  experience 
by  means  of  definite  acts  "  ?     This  is  the  event  in 

2^  Acts  11:15. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  17 

which  the  chief  interests  of  heaven  and  earth 
have  been  centered,  from  God's  viewpoint,  ever 
since  man  abused  his  freedom  in  rebelling  against 
his  Creator.  Why  should  it  not  produce  a  new 
"  type  of  being  "? 

So  tliat,  with  respect  to  the  beginning  of  Chris- 
tianity on  the  earth,  our  problem  is  limited,  in 
persons,  to  the  twelve  apostles:  in  time  to  the 
day  of  Pentecost. 

As  to  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  life  in 
the  individual  we  cannot  be  so  explicit.  It  may 
help  us  here,  however,  to  emphasize  the  fact  that 
we  are  dealing  with  Christianity  rather  than  that 
broader  state  of  being;  i.e.,  religion.  A  failure 
to  differentiate  just  here  has  caused,  on  the  part 
of  many,  no  little  amount  of  confusion  in  investi- 
gations of  this  nature. 

For  instance.  Professor  William  James,  in  his 
lectures  entitled  "  The  Varieties  of  Religious  Ex- 
perience," has  treated  the  subject  of  Natural 
Religion,  from  the  psychological  viewpoint,  in  a 
way  that  certainly  merits  our  admiration.  But, 
from  the  standpoint  of  Revealed  Christianity, 
these  lectures  are  of  very  little  worth  to  us,  aside 
from  the  psychological  agility  with  which  the 
author  proceeds. 

In  fact,  there  is  not  to  be  found  the  account 
of  the  experience  of  one  New  Testament  conver- 
sion among  the  many,  many  examples  which  the 
author  reviews,  so  far  as  I  have  seen.  This  is 
remarkable  in  the  face  of  the  following  statement 


18  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

of  the  author:  "The  only  novelty  that  I  can 
imagine  this  qourse  of  lectures  to  possess  lies  in 
the  breadth  of  the  apperceiving  mass  ...  I  may 
succeed  in  discussing  religious  experiences  in  a 
wider  context  than  has  been  usual  in  university 
courses."  ^^  We  naturally  ask,  should  not  this 
breadth  have  included  at  least  one  from  among 
the  ten  thousand  New  Testament  examples  that 
are  recorded? 

On  the  other  hand,  the  author  gleans  his  ex- 
amples almost  entirely  from  the  writings  of  com- 
paratively modern  writers,  as  the  following  shows : 
"  These  men  of  course  are  either  comparatively 
modern  writers,  or  else  such  early  ones  as  have 
become  religious  classics."  ^^ 

He  seems  to  ignore  the  principle  that  the  foun- 
tain is  purer  and  richer  at  its  head  than  at  any 
other  place.  "  Interesting  as  the  origin  and 
early  stages  of  a  subject  always  are,  yet  when 
one  seeks  earnestly  for  its  full  significance,  one 
must  always  look  to  its  more  completely  evolved 
and  perfect  forms."  ^^ 

Of  course  one  who  is  acquainted  with  the  his- 
tory of  Christianity  knows  that  it  emerged  from 
the  Dark  Ages  colored  with  every  tint  of  coloring 
that  could  be  produced  in  the  human  heart  dur- 
ing a  long  period  of  darkness ;  and  from  which 
reason  ought  to   expect  it   to  purify  itself  only 

2«  James  —  The  Varieties  of  Religious  Experience;  p.  25. 
(The  underscore  is  mine.) 
2T  Jbid.,  p.  3.  28  Ibid.,  p.  3. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  19 

after  long,  weary  years.  And  so,  for  one  to 
scrutinize  numberless  cases  of  the  so-called  modern 
conversions  taken  from  the  experiences  of  men 
living  immediately,  or  even  quite  remotely  this  side 
of  the  Dark  Ages,  would  mean  very  little,  so  far 
as  getting  at  the  real  nature  of  true  Christian 
being  is  concerned. 

But  the  whole  difficulty  in  the  way  of  Professor 
James'  lectures  being  a  help  to  one  in  such  an 
undertaking  as  the  present,  is  the  lack  of  dis- 
crimination properly  between  Christianity  and  re- 
ligion ;  but  he  is  not  to  be  criticized  in  this  regard, 
for  his  subject  is  that  of  natural  religion  rather 
than  Christianity,  as  such. 

So  then,  individual  examples  of  men  becoming 
Christians  which  will  satisfy  us  in  this  discussion 
must  not  be  found  this  side  of  the  Dark  Ages ; 
neither  can  they  be  taken  during  these  Dark  Ages. 
And  since  we  must  go  back  of  the  Dark  Ages,  this 
will  bring  us  so  near  to  the  fountain's  head  that 
we  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  proceed  into 
the  New  Testament  time  for  our  examples ;  for, 
in  this  field,  so  full  of  examples  that  are  so  rich 
in  character  and  set  forth  in  such  straightfor- 
ward, simple  language,  we  feel  sure  that  we  can 
understand  them,  and  we  know  that  here  we  shall 
not  be  led  astray.  And  so,  for  our  individual 
examples  we  shall  accept  none  but  those  in  the 
New  Testament.  So  much,  then,  for  the  explicit 
limitations  of  the  two  phases  of  our  problem. 

And  now,  having  cleared  the  way,  we  are  ready 


20  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

to  more  fully  develop  the  answer  to  our  last  ques- 
tion :  "  Therefore  if  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he 
is  a  new  creature ;  old  things  are  passed  away ; 
behold  all  things  are  become  new."  ^^  "  Except 
a  man  be  born  anew,  he  cannot  see  the  Kingdom 
of  God."  ^*^      "As  new-born  babes,"  etc.^^ 

These  sufficiently  bring  before  us  the  thought 
that  in  becoming  a  Christian,  in  time,  one  be- 
comes a  nem  self.  But  new  in  what  sense,  we  ask. 
In  precisely  the  sense  in  which  our  Fourth  Con- 
ception teaches ;  i.e.,  new  in  "  Life  purpose." 

But  again,  this  theory  teaches  that  we  exist  in 
a  "  larger  self."  This  is  true  of  the  Christian 
being  in  a  peculiar,  or  as  we  might  say,  double 
sense.  Yet  not  so  peculiar.  For  in  the  Supple- 
mentary Essay  to  the  First  Series,  Professor 
Royce  develops  the  idea  of  a  Self-representative 
System,  in  which  the  largest  self  includes  all  the 
others.  In  a  previous  part  of  this  production, 
this  thought  has  been  shown  to  accord  in  gen- 
eral with  the  Scriptures. 

But  now,  we  wish  to  notice  especially  the  unique 
position  of  the  Christian  in  this  Self-representa- 
tive System.  Here  we  must  call  to  mind  our  defi- 
nition of  Christian  being,  remembering  that  it  is 
through  or  in  Christ  that  we  sustain  our  unique 
relationship  to  the  Absolute.  Let  us  note  the 
following:  "  Neither  pray  I  for  these  alone,  but 
for  them  also  which  shall  believe  on  me  through 

20  Paul  — 7/   Cor.  5:17,  so  Jesus  — /o/in.  3 :  3.     R.V. 

31  Petee  —  I  Peter  2:2. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  21 

their  word:  that  they  all  may  be  one;  as  Thou, 
Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also 
may  be  one  in  us :  ...  I  in  them,  and  Thou  in 
me,  that  they  may  be  made  perfect  in  one."  ^^ 
"  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life.  No 
one  can  come  to  the  Father,  except  through 
me."  ^^  "  For  whom  I  have  suffered  the  loss  of 
all  things  and  do  count  them  refuse,  so  that  I 
may  win  Christ,  and  be  found  in  Him."  ^^  "  For 
you  died,  and  your  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in 
God."  ^^  "  As  you  have  therefore  received  Christ 
Jesus  the  Lord,  so  walk  in  Him ;  rooted  and 
builded  up  in  Him.  ..."  And  you  are  completed 
in  Him."  ^^  "  And  be  not  conformed  to  this 
world:  but  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of 
your  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  that  good, 
and  acceptable,  and  perfect,  will  of  God."  ^^ 
"  There  is  therefore  now  no  condemnation  to 
them  which  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk  not 
after  the  flesh,  but  after  the  Spirit."  ^s 

Time  and  space  fail  us  to  catalogue  and  develop 
this  type  of  New  Testament  teaching,  in  which 
it  is  the  manifest  intent  to  set  forth  the  thought 
that  the  Christian  is  in  Christ  and  Christ  is  in 
God. 

But  now,  do  we  ask  as  to  the  benefit  to  the 
Christian  of  his  unique  position  in  relation  to  the 

32  Jesus  —  Joftji  17:  20-23.  36  Paul  —  Co?.  2:  6,  7,  10. 

33  Jesus  — /o^TC  14:6.  37  Paul  —  Bom.  12:2. 

34  Paul  —  Phil.  3 :  8-9.  38  Paul  —  Bom.  8 : 1. 
35PAUL  — CoZ.  3:3.     R.V. 


22  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

Absolute?  Indeed,  this  is  the  anxious  desire  of 
Philip :  "  Show  us  the  Father  and  it  will  satisfy 
us."  It  shows  us  the  Father,  and  we,  with  the 
Psalmist  of  old,  exclaim,  "  We  shall  be  satisfied, 
when  we  awake,  with  thy  likeness." 

So  as  we  saw  before,  it  is  possible,  and  not 
only  so,  but  highly  probable,  that  individuals  exist 
in  God,  and  yet,  do  not  know  the  relation  which 
they  sustain  to  the  Absolute,  and  because  of  this 
they  wander  in  the  darkness,  many  times  taking 
courses  that  are  contemptible  in  God's  sight.  So 
we  see  that  in  Christ  such  a  course  is,  if  not 
impossible,  highly  improbable.  "  If  we  say  that 
we  have  fellowship  with  Him,  and  walk  in  dark- 
ness, we  lie,  and  do  not  the  truth :  but  if  we 
walk  in  the  light,  we  have  fellowship  one  with 
another,  and  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  his  Son 
cleanseth  us  from  all  sin."  ^^  "  And  hereby  we 
do  know  that  we  know  Him,  if  we  keep  His  com- 
mandments. .  .  .  But  whoso  keepeth  His  word,  in 
him  verily  is  the  love  of  God  perfected ;  hereby 
know  we  that  we  are  in  Him."  ^^ 

So  that  the  Christian's  unique  relation  to  the 
Absolute  enables  him  to  know  the  purposes  of  the 
Absolute  in  a  way  far  beyond  that  of  the  ordinary 
individual ;  and  because  of  this,  he  so  fashions  his 
own  wa3's  as  to  fit  into  the  divine  plan.  He  "  so 
runs,  not  as  uncertainly  " ;  He  "  so  fights,  not  as 
beating  the  air  " ;  on  the  other  hand,  "  He  walks 
but  faints  not;  he  runs  and  is  not  weary." 
39  John  —  /  John  1 :  6-7.  «>  Johk  —  /  John  2 : 3,  5. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  23 

We  now  come  to  consider  another  phase  of  the 
origin  of  being:  the  real  process  in  the  origin  of 
being.  I  am  sure  that  the  mere  quotation  of  a 
few  sentences  from  Professor  Royce  can,  in  no 
way,  either  do  him  justice  or  satisfy  us  on  this 
point.  But  of  course  in  a  production  of  this 
kind  that  is  the  most  we  can  do.  But  for  one 
to  comprehend  the  professor's  teaching  on  this 
phase  of  the  question,  would  necessitate  a  careful 
study  of  at  least  the  Supplementary  Essay  to  the 
First  Series ;  and  also  the  two  lectures  in  the 
Second  Series,  entitled  "  The  Human  Self "  and 
"  The  Place  of  The  Self  in  Being." 

I  here  present  a  few  statements  on  this  point 
that  must  suffice  for  the  present.  "  I  now  make 
the  wholly  tentative  hypothesis  that  the  process 
of  the  evolution  of  new  forms  of  consciousness  in 
nature  is  throughout  of  the  same  general  type  as 
that  which  we  observe  when  we  follow  the  evolution 
of  new  sorts  of  plans,  of  ideas,  and  of  selfhoods 
in  our  own  life,"  *^  "  For  imitation  means  that 
a  new  process  results  from  the  conscious  union  of 
the  influence  of  two  previous  processes;  and  in 
case  of  imitation,  as  we  have  just  seen,  the  new 
process  lies  between  the  original  processes."  *^ 
*'  But  further,  the  new  living  individuals  in  their 
development  largely  illustrate  what  we  call  the 
process  of  gradual  adaptation  to  the  environment 
by    novel    forms    of    structure    and    function."  *^ 

41  Second  Series;  p.  315.  42  Ibid.,  p.  316. 

43  Ibid.,  p.  317. 


M  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

"But  upon  what  does  all  imitation  depend? 
First,  upon  an  interest  in  discriminating  between 
the  doings  of  some  other  individual  and  the  pres- 
ent deeds  of  one's  own  organism;  and  secondly, 
upon  an  interest  in  seeking,  through  a  persistent 
process  of  trial  and  error,  to  find  a  new  course  of 
action  which,  when  discovered,  shall  constitute  a 
modification  of  the  former  deed  of  one^s  own 
organism  in  the  direction  of  the  deeds  of  one's 
model.''  ■*■*  "  But  I  never  repeat  his  act.  Imita- 
tion is  a  kind  of  a  trial  series  of  acts."  ^^  "  The 
finite  beings  whom  we  acknowledge  in  the  concrete 
are  always,  at  any  temporal  moment,  such  as 
they  are  by  virtue  of  an  inattention  which  at 
present  blinds  -  them  to  their  actual  relations  to 
God  and  to  one  another."  ^^  "  And  as  we  saw, 
it  is  an  activity  directed  by  nothing  so  much  as 
by  an  attention  to  tlie  contents  of  experience  when 
once  they  chance  to  have  been  discriminated."  '^'^ 

These  will  have  to  suffice  us  as  to  the  teaching 
of  our  Fourth  Conception  on  this  point.  Now, 
from  these  we  see  that  there  is  a  "  longing  "  for 
a  different  "  life  purpose  "  a  "  discriminating  " 
between  one's  deeds  and  the  deeds  of  another  — 
an  accepting  the  other  as  a  "  model  "  for  "  imita- 
tion "  and  the  setting  about  to  "  gradually 
adapt "  one's  self  to  the  "  new  environment " 
which  has  resulted  from  the  new  "  life  purpose." 

i*  Second  Series;  p.  310-311.     48  Ibid.,  p.  307. 
45  Ibid.,  p.  311.  47  Ibid.,  p.  310. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  25 

Indeed  the  individual  comes  to  grasp  the  fact  that 
he  is  what  he  is  by  "  inattention  "  to  things  that 
would  make  him  other  than  he  is.  And  that  by 
"  attention  "  he  shall  become  what  he  hopes  to 
be.  The  way  is  open  to  him.  He  enters  and 
runs  his  course. 

But  what  has  taken  place?  There  has  been 
the  "  union  "  of  two  selves,  with  the  result  that 
"  gradually  "  will  be  developed  a  thirds  or  "  new 
self  "  lying  "  between  "  formerly  existent  beings. 
Now  it  is  very  apparent  that  this  new  creature 
cannot  be  just  like  both  of  the  former  beings. 
But  he  will  be  found  to  be  made  up  of  the  charac- 
teristics of  both,  blended  in  a  way  too  intricate 
for  our  discrimination.  But  we  may  rest  assured 
on  this  point;  that  in  spiritual  realms,  and  where 
the  "  union "  has  been  a  mutual  and  congenial 
one,  the  Spirit  which  animates  this  "  new  being  " 
will  be  the  Spirit  of  the  larger  of  the  two  selves. 
Or  in  other  words,  in  this  respect  there  will  be 
the  "  survival  of  the  fittest." 

Now  that  this  type  of  "  new  being  "  has  been 
originated,  it  will  possess  the  power  of  natural  or 
self  generation,  else  it  could  not  properly  be 
termed  a  type.  And  this  is  the  point  toward 
which  we  have  been  moving  all  along.  This  is  the 
meaning  of  the  words  of  the  Savior  —  our  model 
to  His  Apostles,  "  Abide  in  me,  and  I  will  abide 
in  you ;  as  the  branch  can  not  bear  fruit  of  itself, 
unless  it  abides  in  the  vine,  no  more  can  you, 


26  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

unless  you  abide  in  me.  I  am  the  vine:  you  are 
the  branches."  ^^  "  It  was  not  you  who  chose 
me,  but  I  have  chosen  you.  And  I  planted  you 
in  order  that  you  might  take  root,  and  become 
fruitful,  and  your  fruit  continue."  ^® 

From  this  we  adduce  the  following:  First, 
that  in  the  process  of  the  origination  of  a  new 
type  of  being  the  ^rst  product  will  receive  the 
Spirit  of  life  of  the  larger  of  the  two  selves  that 
have  combined  to  produce  this  product  of  the 
"  new  type  " ;  and  second,  that  this  first  product 
will  possess  power  to  generate  its  kind. 

And  now  to  turn  to  the  scenes  of  Pentecost. 
What  do  we  find?  Here  is  the  first  and  finished 
product  of  this  new  type  of  being  in  the  twelve 
apostles,  as  a  body.  And  into  tliis  product  is 
being  infused  the  Spirit  of  the  larger  self. 
"  During  the  celebration  of  the  day  of  Pentecost 
they  were  all  harmoniously  assembled  in  one 
place;  when,  suddenly,  a  sound  was  heard  from 
the  sky,  similar  to  that  of  a  very  violent  tempest 
blast,  filling  the  whole  house  in  which  they  were 
seated.  And  they  saw  distributed  to  themselves 
fiery  tongues,  which  settled  upon  every  one  of 
them.  And  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  and  began  to  speak  in  foreign  languages, 
as  the  Spirit  endowed  them  with  clear  expres- 
sion." ^'^ 

*sJokn  15:4-5;  Living  Oracles. 

*^  John  15:16;  Ferrar  Fenton's  Translation. 

60  Acts  2:1-4;  Ferrar  Fenton's  Translation. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  27 

As  God,  at  the  beginning  of  the  human  race, 
breathed  into  man  of  His  Spirit  and  he  became  a 
new  type  of  being  (a  mere  clod  of  clay,  animated 
with  life  and  posessed  with  power  to  produce  his 
kind,  not  as  he  was  produced;  i.e.,  miraculously, 
but  in  the  natural  way)  so  now,  in  the  fullness 
of  time,  at  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  the  King 
of  Righteousness  in  the  hearts  of  these  men, 
God,  from  the  effulgence  of  His  glory,  sends  forth 
His  Holy  Spirit  that  he  may  abide  a  "  treasure 
in  earthen  vessels,"  a  pilot  "  to  guide  them  into 
all  truth,"  the  haven  of  rest,  and  to  possess  them 
with  power  to  produce  their  kind.  Not  as  they 
were  produced  (i.e.,  miraculously),  but  through 
natural  means. 

This  is  the  finishing  touch  of  the  beginning  of 
Christianity  on  the  earth.  And  this  is  the  philo- 
sophic basis  for  the  same.  The  first  phase  of  our 
problem  is  solved,  but  in  its  solution  is  the  key 
to  the  solution  of  the  second  phase. 

Now  that  the  type  is  complete,  the  process  in 
the  origination  or  generation  of  other  individuals 
of  this  same  type  will  be  natural,  not  supernat- 
ural. Once  we  learn  with  certainty  the  nature  of 
that  process,  the  second  phase  of  our  problem  is 
solved.  As  we  said  a  few  sentences  back:  we 
can  not  wholly  trust  individual  experiences  which 
have  been  the  outgrowth  of  the  internal  longings, 
influenced  more  or  less  by  the  conditions  of  the 
times,  and  that  are  far  removed  from  the  foun- 
tainhead,  in  time.     Such  experiences  can  be  ac- 


28  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

counted  valid  in  a  discussion  of  this  nature  only 
in  so  far  as  they  accord  with  those  recorded  in 
the  New  Testament.  This  is  the  more  obvious 
when  we  consider  the  fact,  that  of  the  many  New 
Testament  examples  of  the  process  of  the  begin- 
ning of  Christianity  in  the  individual  there  is  no 
discord.  But  all  is  harmony.  The  process  is  the 
same  in  all  the  cases.  This  is  still  more  remark- 
able when  we  consider  that  within  these  examples 
are  to  be  found  individuals  from  all  the  different 
nations  of  the  then  inhabited  earth. 

In  this,  we  are  simply  emphasizing  with  respect 
to  the  Christian  religion  that  which  Professor 
John  Caird  holds  to  be  true  with  respect  to  re- 
ligion in  general. 

"  Religion  must  indeed  be  a  thing  of  the  heart ; 
but  in  order  to  elevate  it  from  the  region  of  sub- 
jective caprice  and  waywardness,  and  to  dis- 
tinguish between  that  which  is  true  and  false  in 
religion,  we  must  appeal  to  an  objective  stand- 
ard. That  which  enters  the  heart  must  first  be 
discerned  by  the  intelligence  to  be  true.  It  must 
be  seen  as  having  in  its  own  nature  a  right  to 
dominate  feeling,  and  as  constituting  the  prin- 
ciple by  which  feeling  must  be  judged."  ^^  "In 
estimating  the  religious  character  of  individuals, 
nations  or  races,  the  first  question  is,  not  how 
they  feel,  but  what  they  think  and,  believe  —  not 
whether  their  religion  is  one  which  manifests  itself 

61 "  Introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,"  p.  174: 
Abridged. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  29 

in  emotions,  more  or  less  vehement  and  enthusi- 
astic, but  what  are  their  conceptions  of  God  and 
divine  things  by  which  these  emotions  are  called 
forth.  Feeling  is  necessary  in  religion,  but  it  is 
by  content  or  intelligent  basis  of  a  religion,  and 
not  by  feeling,  that  its  character  and  worth  are 
to  be  determined."  ^^ 

We  are  appealing  to  "  an  objective  standard  " 
that  shall  be  valid.  That  standard  is  the  New 
Testament. 

Now  according  to  this  authority,  what  is  the 
process  in  the  propagation  of  this  new  type  of 
being  which  finds  its  first  complete  product  in  the 
twelve  apostles  .f* 

Permit  me  here  to  preface  the  New  Testament 
quotations  with  a  few  general  statements:  This 
Christian  being  can  be  produced  only  from  human 
individuals.  We  may  not  speak  of  a  rock,  a  bird, 
a  flower,  as  belonging  to  this  type  of  Christian 
being.  Neither  may  we  so  speak  of  an  idiot  or 
an  insane  person ;  but  of  human  individuals  who 
are  in  full  possession  of  their  intellectual  facul- 
ties, and  with  their  understanding  somewhat  de- 
veloped. 

The  process,  then,  of  entering  into  this  type 
of  Christian  being  is  one  in  which  there  is  the 
response,  internally  in  a  state  of  mind,  externally 
in  acts,  of  the  intellect,  the  will  and  the  feeling 
of    the    individual;    to    words,    either   written    or 

52  "  Introduction  to  the  Philosophy  of  Religion,"  p.  186: 
Abridged. 


30  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

spoken,  which  embody  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

"  And  this  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  shall  be 
preached  in  all  the  world  for  a  witness  unto  all 
nations."  ^^  "  Go  ye,  therefore,  and  teach  all 
nations,  baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  ^* 
"  But  these  are  written  that  ye  might  believe  that 
Jesus  is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God."  ^^  "For 
I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ:  For 
it  is  the  power  of  God  unto  Salvation  to  every- 
one that  believeth."  ^^  "  For  there  is  no  other 
name  under  heaven  given  among  men,  whereby  we 
must  be  saved."  ^^  "  Therefore  they  that  were 
scattered  abroad  went  everywhere  preaching  the 
word."  ^^  "  But  when  they  believed  Philip, 
preaching  the  things  concerning  the  Kingdom  of 
God  and  the  name  of  Christ,  they  were  baptized, 
both  men  and  women."  ^^  "  And  many  of  the 
Corinthians  hearing,  believed,  and  were  bap- 
tized." «« 

I  will  not  continue  these  quotations,  for  these 
are  sufficient  to  indicate  the  nature  of  the  process 
of  entering  or  taking  on  this  new  type  of  being. 
I  may  say,  further,  that  these  are  in  harmony 
with  all  of  the  many  New  Testament  examples  of 
this  process. 

Well,   what  have   we.^     Here   are   these  twelve 

63  Jesus  —  Matt.  2i:l4>.  57  ^  cts  4 :  12. 

64  Jesus  — 3fa<«.  28:19.  5»Acts  8:i. 

65  John  20:S1.  ^s  Acts  8:13. 

66  Bom.  1:16.  eo  Luke  —  A  cts  18 :  8. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  31 

apostles  of  Jesus  Christ,  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit  given  them  from  God.  They,  as  a  body, 
constitute  the  first  finished  product  of  this  new 
type  of  being.  In  this  body  dwells  the  heaven 
given  Spirit,  to  energize  and  give  life  to  the  whole 
body. 

As  this  body  takes  on  new  material  through  the 
proclamation  of  this  Gospel  of  Christ,  the  natural 
process,  and  as  this  material  becomes  assimilated 
to  this  body  in  a  new  type  of  being,  this  Spirit 
will  energize  every  member  of  the  body. 

The  process  of  the  natural  generation  or  per- 
petuity of  this  type  of  being  is  thus  indicated. 
The  second  phase  of  our  problem  is  solved. 

Shall  we  now  close  with  a  homely  and  simple 
illustration?  Here  is  a  piece  of  material,  it  may 
chance  to  be  a  potato  or  any  other  product  of 
the  vegetable  type  of  being.  And  here  is  my 
body,  animated  with  a  human  spirit.  The  ques- 
tion arises,  can  this  human  spirit  be  placed  within 
this  material  which  is  of  another  type  of  being? 
And  if  so,  how?  The  answer  is  yes.  And  by 
one  and  only  one  process.  And  that  is  by  masti- 
cating into,  and  assimilating  to  my  body,  this 
material,  and  then  my  human  spirit  will  permeate 
this  material  in  my  body  as  it  does  all  other  parts 
of  my  body.  And  thus  is  it  changed  into  a  new 
type  of  being.  And  thus  have  I  placed  my  hu- 
man spirit  within  it. 

Thus  it  is  with  one  who  enters  into  the  type 
of  Christian  being.     He   is   masticated  into   this 


32  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

type  of  being  through  the  fundamentals  of  the 
gospel.  He  is  assimilated  to  this  type  of  being 
by  growth  in  the  Christian  graces. 

"  And  besides  this,  giving  all  diligence,  add  to 
your  faith  virtue ;  and  to  virtue  knowledge ;  and 
to  knowledge  temperance ;  and  to  temperance  pa- 
tience ;  and  to  patience  godliness ;  and  to  godli- 
ness brotherly  kindness ;  and  to  brotherly  kindness 
charity.  For  if  these  things  be  in  you  and 
abound,  they  make  you  that  you  shall  neither  be 
barren  nor  unfruitful  in  the  knowledge  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  ^^ 


61  Peteh  —  7/  Pet.  1 : 5-8. 


II 

THE  WORD  MADE  FLESH 

THE  INCARNATION 

In  writing  the  Fourth  Gospel,  John  goes  back 
to  creation's  morning  for  his  beginning.  He 
states  in  the  opening  paragraph  that  Jesus  had 
wrought  with  the  Father  in  the  creation  of  the 
world  in  its  beginning.  We  are  reminded  of  the 
statement  in  Genesis  in  which  God  said,  "  Let  m 
make  man  in  our  own  image  and  likeness." 

But  John's  purpose  was  not  to  write  of  the 
physical,  but  of  the  spiritual  creation.  Conse- 
quently, he  adds  but  a  brief  paragraph  upon  this. 
Then  he  makes  brief  mention  of  the  one  who  came 
as  a  witness,  to  bear  witness  of  the  Light  that 
was  the  true  Light,  coming  into  the  world  bear- 
ing light  and  life  to  all  men.  He  then  takes  up 
the  particular  purpose  of  his  narrative,  which  is 
to  give  a  deep  spiritual  and  philosophical  narra- 
tive of  Jesus  —  the  Word  made  flesh.  I  direct 
your  mind  to  the  following  text  for  our  consid- 
eration. 

"  In    the    beginning   was    the    Word,    and    the 

Word  was   with  God,   and  the  Word  was   God. 

33 


34  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

.  .  .  And  the  Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among 
us  (and  we  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the 
only  begotten  of  the  Father)  full  of  grace  and 
of  truth."  ^  In  this  he  suggests  to  us  the  Mys- 
tery, the  Mission  and  the  Message  of  Jesus  —  the 
Word  made  flesh. 

The  mystery  of  his  coming  into  the  world  has 
become  a  stumbling  block  to  the  curious  spirits  of 
a  superficial  and  artificial  age.  Hence,  the  vir- 
gin birth  of  Jesus  is  no  longer  accepted  by  those 
who  court  the  favor  of  modem  scientists.  That 
there  was  any  mystery  about  his  coming  into  the 
world  is  rejected  by  them  as  unworthy  of  serious 
thought.  To  speak  to  them  of  the  incarnation 
of  Jesus  is  preposterous. 

In  fact,  there  was  no  incarnation.  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  the  son  of  Joseph.  He  was  con- 
ceived and  bom  just  as  other  children,  except  that 
He  was  an  illegitimate  child  in  conception,  but 
was  legitimatized  by  Mary's  marriage  before  His 
birth. 

When  Jesus  was  on  the  earth  He  freely  en- 
tered the  synagogues  of  the  Jews  everywhere  and 
upon  all  occasions.  He  was  honored  in  many  in- 
stances by  being  called  upon  to  read  out  of  the 
law,  to  speak  and  to  teach.  It  might  be  said  of 
Him  that  He  grew  up  in  the  synagogue.  He 
went  into  the  synagogue  "  as  His  custom  was." 
He  was  found  in  the  temple.  He  said,  "  Know 
you  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  busi- 

1  John  —  1:1,  14. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  35 

ness  ? "  "  They  marveled  at  His  teaching." 
"  For  He  taught  them  as  one  having  authority." 

Yes,  He  entered  the  synagogues  freely ;  and 
all  His  critics  and  opposers  were  powerless  to  find 
a  way  to  prevent  Him.  They  knew  all  the  time 
that  their  law  forbade  a  "  bastard  to  even  enter 
the  synagogue,"  much  less  to  teach.  Is  it  to  be 
presumed  that  they  would  not  have  hurled  this 
at  Him  upon  every  occasion  had  it  been  true? 
Yet,  when  His  ringing  challenge  came,  "  Which 
of  you  convicteth  me  of  sin.''  "  they  were  help- 
less. In  all  their  opposition  to  Him,  this  ob- 
jection is  never  raised.  He  who  "  was  tempted 
in  every  point,"  was  also  criticized  in  every  con- 
ceivable way. 

He  graced  the  marriage  occasion.  He  looked 
into  the  face  of  the  water.  Under  His  majestic 
presence  it  moved  with  the  blush  of  life.  He 
taught  the  sacredness  of  the  marriage  vow.  The 
adultery  of  a  heart  that  would  "  look  upon  a 
woman  to  lust  after  her."  In  parables  He 
taught  the  purity  of  the  church  by  comparison 
with  the  virgin,  and  the  sacredness  of  the  mar- 
riage relation.  Yet,  in  all  this  He  called  forth 
no  criticism  upon  His  mother,  no  stigma  upon 
His  own  character. 

In  the  face  of  all  this,  our  modern  scientists 
see  no  inconsistency.  They  seem  to  feel  that 
"  scientific  conclusions  "  can  be  drawn  over  irre- 
concilable inconsistencies.  Jesus  was  never  called 
upon  to  defend  His  character  from  the  stain  and 


86  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

stigma  which  these  so-called  scientists  seek  to 
throw  upon  it. 

These  same  scientists  would  teach  us,  and  per- 
haps with  a  good  deal  of  truth,  that  the  sense 
of  shame  in  the  mother  stamps  itself  indelibly 
into  the  life  of  the  illegitimate  child;  and  bars 
the  way  to  greatness  or  distinction  on  his  part. 
But  where  was  any  sense  of  shame  on  Mary's 
part?  Where  did  it  ever  stand  out  in  the  life  of 
Jesus?  If  He  was  peculiarly  bold  and  emphatic 
in  any  one  line  of  teaching,  it  was  in  the  realm  of 
personal  morality  and  sex  purity. 

Matthew  and  Luke  stated  the  fact  of  the  vir- 
gin birth,  but  knew  no  necessity  of  arguing  it. 
It  M^as  never  questioned  in  their  day  by  any  who 
were  competent  to  know.  They  knew  the  fact 
and  presented  it,  as  we  would  present  as  axiom 
in  mathematics.  To  them  this  truth  was  made 
self-evident  by  every  deed  that  He  ever  did; 
and  enforced  by  every  principle  He  ever  taught. 

The  early  church  placed  no  particular  emphasis 
upon  it;  did  not  make  it  an  essential  article  of 
faith.  It,  like  many  other  facts,  was  taken  by 
implication  in  the  statement  of  the  great  confes- 
sion. "Thou  art  the  Christ,  The  Son  of  the 
living  God."  If  "  the  Son  of  God,"  in  the  sense 
in  which  this  part  of  the  confession  was  under- 
stood by  all  the  early  Christians,  then  He  was  not 
the  son  of  Joseph.  He  was  the  only  begotten 
of  the  Father,  and  the  child  of  the  virgin  Mary. 
But  this  is  not  emphasized,  nor  indeed,  need  it 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  37 

be.  For  the  great  confession  is  all  comprehen- 
sive and  all  sufficient  in  its  statements  and  impli- 
cations. 

Our  creed  makers  in  a  later  day  made  a  blunder 
when  they  undertook  to  improve  upon  the  sim- 
ple, yet  comprehensive,  confession  of  the  Apos- 
tolic  Church. 

It  was  not  the  virginity  of  Mary,  but  the  divin- 
ity of  Jesus,  that  concerned  the  early  church. 
A  clear  note  upon  this,  it  seems  to  me,  ought  to  be 
sounded  in  every  pulpit  in  this  day  of  rationalism. 

"  The  Word  became  flesh,"  says  John.  In  this, 
he  states  the  fact  of  a  great  mystery,  but  adds 
no  word  of  explanation  or  argumentation.  The 
great  apostle  to  the  Gentiles  is  content  to  rec- 
ognize and  state  the  fact  without  comment. 
"  Great  is  the  mystery  of  Godliness :  God  was 
manifested  in  the  flesh."  ^  But  our  curious  spir- 
its of  this  age,  confronted  with  and  compelled  to 
recognize  mystery  in  almost  every  other  realm, 
will  have  none  of  it  in  religion.  Religion  must 
conform  to  known  natural  laws. 

What  is  there  impossible  about  the  mystery  of 
the  incarnation  —  the  virgin  birth  —  more  than 
the  impossible  in  scores  of  other  mysteries  recog- 
nized and  utilized  by  these  so-called  scientists? 
Why  should  it  be  singled  out  and  rejected? 

Take  John's  statement  of  this  mysterious  fact; 
and  what  have  we?  Simply  a  statement  that  the 
immaterial  has  passed  over  into  the  realm  of  the 

2/  Timothy  — 3:16. 


38  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

material.  "  The  Word  (immaterial)  became  flesh 
(material)."  The  mystery  does  not  consist  in 
the  method,  but  in  the  thing  accomplished.  This 
being  true,  may  we  not  ask,  are  not  similar  mys- 
teries in  evidence  all  around  about  us?  Do  we 
not  think?  Do  we  not  cause  our  thoughts  (im- 
material things)  to  find  expression  in  material 
forms?  What  about  the  inventor?  The  genius? 
The  author?     The  great  captains  of  industry? 

Not  only  so ;  but  we  take  of  the  material  sub- 
stances and  cause  them  to  pass  into  the  immaterial 
realm.  They  become  mental  energy  —  sight  — 
hearing  —  feeling  —  thought  —  power.  They  are 
ours  to  use  in  a  great  variety  of  ways  in  the 
immaterial  realm.  Thus  in  a  thousand  ways 
daily,  in  our  human  experiences,  this  mystery  is 
before  us.  Material  things  are  passing  con- 
stantly into  the  immaterial  realm,  and  vice  versa. 
Millions  of  times  within  the  life  of  any  intelligent 
being  these  experiences  are  occurring. 

Who  are  we,  then,  that  we  should  assume  to  cry 
"  impossible "  when  God  chooses  to  cause  His 
Word  to  pass  over  into  the  material  realm  and 
express  itself  in  material  form?  "  And  the  Word 
became  flesh."  Yes,  the  virgin  birth  is  easily 
within  the  realm  of  mysterious  probabilities. 

But  in  the  next  place :  the  Mission.  The  Word 
not  only  "  became  flesh,"  but,  it  "  dwelt  among 
lis."  The  first  question  that  naturally  arises  is, 
what  for?  What  was  the  purpose?  What  was 
the  Mission? 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  39 

Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  works  and  teach- 
ings of  Jesus,  His  mission  culminated  in  the  great 
fact  of  His  suffering  upon  the  cross.  Indeed,  if 
it  did  not  consist  in  this.  His  works  and  teach- 
ings were  incidental  to,  and  in  anticipation  of,  the 
cross.  This  was  the  one  thing  He  had  to  do. 
Many  other  things  He  may  or  may  not  do.  But 
this  He  had  to  do. 

In  this  day,  when  the  meaningless  cry  is  heard 
everywhere,  "  Back  to  Christ  and  His  teachings," 
it  is  well  that  there  be  clear  thinking  just  here. 
If  He  expressed  the  love  of  God  toward  mankind, 
when,  by  His  touch  and  teaching,  He  put  new 
content  into  old  teachings,  new  life  and  health  into 
dead  and  diseased  bodies ;  by  his  suffering  upon 
the  cross,  He  expressed  God's  eternal  hatred  for 
sin.  But  more.  He  met  the  final  issue  of  sin. 
He  went  to  the  extremest  limits  of  sin's  conse- 
quences. "  He  who  knew  no  sin,  was  made  sin 
for  us."  ^  "  He  bore  our  sins  in  His  body  upon 
the  tree,"  says  Peter.*  When  in  the  death 
agonies  He  exclaimed,  "  Why  hast  thou  forsaken 
me.'^  "  He  was  in  a  place  of  utter  abandonment, 
God-forsaken,  sin-cursed,  with  all  nature  in  re- 
volt against  Him.  He  was  suffering  alone  the 
consequences  of  the  sins  of  a  world.  He  was  pay- 
ing the  penalty.  He  was  purchasing  liberty,  life 
and  immortality  for  a  world.  No  man  ever  has 
or  ever  can  die  as  He  died.  At  most,  a  man 
abandoned    by    God,    could    suffer    condemnation 

3  //  Cor.—  5:21.  *IPeter  —  2:2i. 


40  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

only  for  his  own  sin.  Jesus,  upon  the  cross, 
drank  the  essence  of  a  world's  sin  in  order  to  re- 
deem that  world.     Well  may  we  sing: 

Jesus,  my  Savior,  on  Calvary's  tree, 
Paid  the  great  debt  and  my  Soul  he  set  free ; 
Oh,  it  was  wonderful,  how  could  it  be? 
Dying  for  me.     Dying  for  me. 

Approaching  the  cross,  in  that  greatest  of  all 
prayers,  Jesus  said,  "  Father,  I  have  finished  the 
work  which  Thou  gavest  me  to  do."  '^  In  His  last 
breath  upon  the  cross  He  made  the  statement,  "  It 
is  finished."  ^  So  far  as  He  was  concerned.  He 
had  taken  the  place  and  performed  the  work  as- 
signed to  Him  to  do  in  heaven's  plan  for  the  sal- 
vation of  men.  His  resurrection,  ascension,  coro- 
nation, the  sending  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  church,  and  the  Spirit's  message 
—  these  are  all  in  the  hands  of  the  Father ;  and 
are  to  be  wrought  out  in  the  councils  of  heaven. 

This  brings  us  to  the  next  thought  —  the  Mes- 
sage. The  coming  of  the  Word  into  the  world 
may  be  veiled  in  mystery,  in  the  incarnation. 
The  mission  may  pass  into  the  realm  of  the  in- 
comprehensible, in  the  suffering  upon  the  cross. 
But,  standing  in  the  light  of  the  cross,  we  have 
a  feeling  that  the  message  is  clear.  The  dazzling 
beauty  and  the  effulgent  glory  of  the  sun  may 
forbid  its  analysis ;  but  this  need  not  make  us 
stumble  when  walking  in  its  light. 

5 /oAn  — 17:4.  6/oft»  — 19:30. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  41 

Standing  in  the  light  of  that  cross,  John  said, 
"  (and  we  beheld  His  glory,  the  glory  as  of  the 
only  begotten  of  the  Father)  full  of  grace  and 
truth."  Here  is  an  individual,  who  "  dwelt  among 
men,"  with  a  halo  of  glory  round  about  Him,  "  full 
of  grace  and  truth."  That  is  John's  adorned 
statement.  Stripped  of  its  adornment,  the  state- 
ment is,  "  The  Word  became  flesh  and  dwelt  among 
us  full  of  grace  and  truth." 

The  Word  of  God;  that  is,  the  thought,  pur- 
pose, plan,  intention,  will,  of  God.  It  was  this 
that  became  incarnate ;  and  dwelt  among  us  "  full 
of  grace  and  truth."  The  message  springs  out 
of  the  fullness  of  the  "  grace  and  truth."  It  did 
not  come  so  directly  out  of  what  Jesus  did  and 
taught  as  out  of  what  He  was. 

He  did  and  taught  many,  many  things  of 
which  we  have  no  record.  Much  that  He  did  and 
taught,  we  cannot  do  and  do  not  teach.  Of  His 
recorded  teachings,  much  as  to  the  message  was 
intended  by  Him  as  in  no  way  final.  It  is  not 
what  He  taught ;  it  is  what  He  was. 

He  taught  no  theory  of  the  atonement.  He 
•was  the  atonement.  He  taught  no  theory  of  the 
resurrection.  He  said,  "  I  am  the  resurrection." 
He  had  no  theory  of  life.  He  was  Life.  He  left 
no  specific  message.  He  was  the  message.  He 
had  no  theory  of  the  gospel.  He  was  the  Gospel. 
He  was  "  grace  and  truth."  Grace,  mercy,  pity  on 
the  one  hand;  truth,  righteousness,  justice  on  the 
other.    Mercy  and  justice  meet  in  Christ  the  Lord. 


42  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

Paul  says,  "  God  set  Him  forth  ...  to  show 
that  He  (God)  might  be  just  and  the  justifier  of 
him  that  believes  in  Jesus."  ^  That  was  the  great 
accomplishment  of  Jesus.  In  Him,  God  is  at 
once,  all  righteous  and  all  merciful.  He  is  "  just 
and  a  justifier." 

I  repeat  it,  Jesus  left  no  specific  message.  He 
was  the  message. 

This  is  what  Jesus  left,  in  His  last  moments  be- 
fore leaving  the  earth.  This  was  specific  and 
final.  He  left  a  charge  (command)  and  a  promise 
to  His  chosen  apostles.  He  promised  them  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  the  abiding  pres- 
ence and  power  of  the  Spirit  to  guide  them  into  all 
truth,*  He  repeated  this  promise  and  charged 
them  to  remain  in  Jerusalem  for  its  fulfillment  in 
a  few  days.^ 

The  apostles  returned  to  Jerusalem  and  as- 
sembled in  the  upper  room.  There  they  waited. 
After  ten  days  Jesus  redeemed  that  promise.^^ 
The  Spirit  came  upon,  and  entered  into,  the  apos- 
tles. He  guided  them  into  all  truth.  He  en- 
dued them  with  all  power  necessary  to  the  proper 
direction  of  the  things  of  the  kingdom.  Through 
them.  He  enters  into  the  lives  of  all  Christians. 

He  gave  to  them  a  full  message  —  a  message 
full  of  grace  and  truth,  for  He  revealed  Jesus 
unto  them.  Jesus  was  the  full  message.  He  took 
of  the  things  of  Jesus  and  showed  it  unto  them. 

7  Rom.—  3 :  35-26.  ^  Acts— I:  4-5. 

e  John  — 16.  10  Acts  — 2. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  4.3 

They  proclaimed  that  message  as  long  as  they 
lived,  and  wrote  it  when  ready  to  die.  In  the 
providence  of  God,  it  has  come  through  the  cen- 
turies to  us,  and  we  have  it  substantially  as  they 
proclaimed  it. 

That  message  is  Jesus  the  Christ.  Not  any 
theory  about  Him,  but  Christ,  the  babe  in  Bethle- 
hem ;  Christ  in  the  agonies  of  the  cross ;  Christ 
in  the  tomb;  Christ  triumphant  in  the  resurrec- 
tion; Christ  regnant  on  the  throne;  Christ  in 
faith,  in  repentance,  in  confession  and  in  baptism ; 
Christ  supreme  in  the  heart;  Christ  dominant  in 
the  life;  Christ  in  Mystery,  in  Mission  and  in 
Message;  Christ  full  of  grace  and  truth. 

May  the  twentieth  century  find  men  —  full 
orbed  men  —  to  proclaim  this  full  message  until 
the  whole  world  shall  be  filled  with  this  full  mes- 
sage of  grace  and  truth. 


Ill 

THE  NATURALNESS  OF  THE 
RESURRECTION 

"  Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  you.  Except  a 
grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  earth  and  die,  it 
abideth  by  itself  alone."  ^  Immediately  preceding 
these  words  of  Jesus  is  this  statement,  "  The  hour 
is  come,  that  the  Son  of  man  should  be  glori- 
fied." ^  Following  the  text  is  the  statement, 
"  Now  is  my  soul  troubled;  and  what  shall  I  say.'* 
Father,  save  me  from  this  hour."  ^ 

Thus,  getting  the  line  of  thought,  we  see  that 
Jesus  is  here  speaking  of  his  death  upon  the  cross, 
and  of  the  results  that  will  follow  out  to  humanity 
and  to  the  world  because  of  that  event.  The 
death  of  Jesus  and  his  resurrection  are  the  two 
great  facts  in  this  text.  These  facts  are  here 
presented  in  the  imagery  of  the  deepest  and  most 
fundamental  law  of  all  existence:  the  law  of  sow- 
ing and  reaping.  I  wonder  if  we  have  deeply  and 
seriously  thought  how  meaningful  this  law  is  when 
applied  to  the  tilings  of  the  kingdom,  or  more  par- 

iJofen  — 12:24. 

2  Ibid.,  12: 23.  3  Ibid.,  12: 27. 

44 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  46 

ticularly,  when  applied  to  the  death  and  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus? 

I  would  direct  your  thought  into  a  study  of 
the  Naturalness  of  the  Resurrection.  I  am  not 
unmindful  that  the  very  wording  of  my  subject 
seems  to  be  paradoxical  in  statement.  In  the 
very  beginning  of  Jesus'  ministry,  he  placed  the 
fact  of  his  divinity  upon  the  reahty  of  his  actual 
bodily  resurrection  from  the  dead,  when  he  said, 
"  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in  three  days  I  will 
raise  it  up."  *  At  the  close  of  his  ministry,  he 
placed  the  condition  of  establishing  his  church  on 
the  earth  upon  the  fact  of  his  divinity,  when  he 
said,  "  Upon  this  rock,  (the  truth  that  he  is  the 
Christ)  I  will  build  my  church."^  Thus,  the 
church  rests  upon  the  fact  of  his  divine  sonship. 
And  his  divine  sonship  rests,  humanly  speaking, 
upon  the  reality  of  his  bodily  resurrection  from 
the  dead.     Hence,  the  importance  of  our  study. 

The  falling  of  wheat  into  the  ground,  and  dy- 
ing, in  order  that  it  may  live,  suggests  to  us  the 
ground,  the  wheat,  the  sowing  (falling  into  the 
ground),  death  and  life.  If  it  shall  be  seen  that 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  are  in  har- 
mony with  this  most  fundamental  law  of  all  life, 
then  it  must  be  conceded  that,  instead  of  being 
unnatural,  the  way  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  is  in 
full  accord  with  the  most  fundamental  of  natural 
laws  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge;  that  it  is 
in  strict  harmony  with  that  most  natural  law  of 
*  John  — 2:19.  -  6  Maf^— 16: 18. 


46  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

life  known  to  the  farthermost  limits  of  the  human 
family.  So  that  if  a  man  will  not  lift  up  his 
eyes  and  gaze  into  the  heavens,  and  there  behold 
the  beauty,  the  order,  the  power,  the  wisdom  and 
the  loveliness  of  his  Creator;  if  he  is  determined 
to  be  "  of  the  earth,  earthy  " ;  if  he,  like  the  ant 
that  crawls  at  his  feet,  will  know  nothing  but  to 
fix  his  mind  and  heart  and  life  upon  the  things  of 
the  earth,  yet  the  Father  would  impel  him,  by  the 
very  intelligence  with  which  he  has  endowed  him, 
as  he  eats  even  the  herbs  of  the  forest,  to  familiar- 
ize himself  with  this  most  natural  and  fundamen- 
tal law  of  life.  If  perchance,  this  might  prepare 
him  for  an  easier  entrance  into  the  way  of  life 
in  Christ. 

The  ground  into  which  this  grain  of  wheat  fell 
was  of  course  the  Jewish  nation.  This  people 
had  been  prepared,  through  the  many  centuries  of 
their  history,  for  the  coming  of  the  Christ.  In 
types  and  shadows:  by  precepts  and  command- 
ments ;  by  rewards  and  punishments ;  by  protec- 
tion and  exposure;  by  slavery  and  freedom;  by 
kingly  greatness  and  national  humiliation;  by 
water  and  fire ;  in  prosperity  and  poverty ; 
through  king  and  prophet ;  by  signs  in  the  heavens 
and  wonders  in  the  earth;  by  all  of  these,  and  a 
thousand  other  devices,  through  the  centuries,  the 
Creator  had  been  slowly  but  surely  preparing  a 
field  into  which  this  kernel  of  wheat  was  finally  to 
fall. 

Under  the  lash  of  the  Egyptian  master,  in  that 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  47 

most  fertile  of  all  agricultural  lands,  the  Israel- 
itish  slave  had  learned  the  law  of  sowing  and  reap- 
ing, of  death  as  the  entry  way  into  life,  in  all 
of  its  naturalness  and  beauty.  In  Palestine,  a 
"  land  flowing  with  milk  and  honey,"  the  "  garden 
spot  of  the  earth  " —  in  freedom  and  national 
greatness,  the  Hebrew  had  beheld  the  "  Rose  of 
Sharon  "  and  the  "  Lily-of-the-Valley,"  blossom- 
ing in  response  to  this  great  natural  law.  He 
had  beheld  the  "  cattle  upon  a  thousand  hills," 
sustained  by  the  same  natural  law.  He  had  seen 
the  "  sower  go  forth  to  sow."  He  knew  what  it 
meant  to  see  "  the  blade  appear,  and  after  that 
the  corn,  and  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  He 
knew  what  it  meant  to  "  put  forth  the  sickle  at 
the  harvest  time."  He  had  heard  the  tramp  of 
the  oxen  upon  the  "  summer  threshing  floor." 
With  all  of  these  things  he  was  familiar  in  every 
detail.  Yet,  all  of  these  things  centered  in  this 
great  natural  law. 

In  tent,  in  tabernacle,  in  temple  and  in  syna- 
gogue ;  by  prophet,  priest  and  king,  Israel  had 
been  developed,  in  mind  and  heart,  into  a  condi- 
tion of  readiness  for  the  coming  of  this  grain  of 
wheat.  Indeed,  she  had  been  lashed  by  the  ex- 
periences of  captivity  and  servitude  into  a  desire 
for  His  coming.  If  perchance,  his  coming  might 
be  a  means  of  deliverance.  Fain  would  Israel 
have  planted  this  "  finest  of  the  wheat  "  into  the 
mellowed  richness  of  her  own,  the  "  fairest  of 
hearts,"  and  rejoiced  to  have  seen  it  blossom  into 


48  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

the  Paradise  of  God.  For,  said  Jesus,  "  From 
the  days  of  John  the  Baptist  until  now  the  king- 
dom of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent 
take  it  by  force."  But  no,  the  matter  is  not  to  be 
forced.  It  will  take  its  own  course.  And  that 
course  will  be  in  harmony  with  this  most  funda- 
mental of  natural  laws. 

The  wheat  must  be  such  in  nature,  that  when 
placed  in  the  proper  soil,  it,  like  real  wheat,  will 
spring  forth  into  life.  We  see  the  manifestation 
of  life  everywhere.  Yet  life  itself  eludes  our  gaze. 
We  have  never  been  able  to  say,  "  here  is  life." 
"This  is  life,"  or  "that  is  Hfe."  Now,  that 
which  manifests  itself  so  abundantly  must  have 
existence  in  and  of  itself.  Life  must  be  more  than 
simply  manifestations.  There  must  be  a  foun- 
tain, a  source,  a  head. 

If  life  does,  then,  exist  in  and  of  itself,  and  we 
were  able  to  find  it  at  its  source,  let  it  be  embodied 
in  whatever  form,  manifested  in  whatever  way. 
It  is  quite  unlikely  that  we  would  be  able  to  de- 
stroy it.  If  the  fountain  of  life  —  life,  and  the 
very  source  of  all  life  was  incarnated  in  Jesus  of 
Nazareth,  His  body  might  be  crucified,  placed  in 
the  grave  —  in  the  sea  or  anywhere  else ;  and  it 
will  spring  forth  into  life.  As  wheat,  it  possesses 
not  only  the  germ  of  life,  but  life  itself.  This 
is  what  John  is  saying,  "  In  the  beginning  was 
the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God.  The  same  was  in  the  beginning 
with  God.     All  things  were  made  by  him;   and 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  49 

without  him  was  not  anything  made  that  was 
made.  In  him  was  life;  and  the  life  was  the  light 
of  men." — "  And  this  Word  was  made  flesh 
and  dwelt  among  us." —  This  is  what  Jesus  means 
when  he  says,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the 
life."  "  You  will  not  come  unto  me  that  you 
might  have  life."  This  is  what  Paul  means  when 
he  says,  Jesus  "  brought  life  and  immorality  to 
light." 

It  is  into  this  prepared  field  of  Jewish  mind 
and  heart  and  thought  that  this  grain  of  wheat 
falls.  It  was  placed  there  in  the  fullness  of  time, 
by  the  age  working  purpose  divine.  It  remained 
for  thirty-three  years  in  the  earth  before  it  finally 
burst  forth  into  life.  Failing  in  their  efforts  to 
"  take  the  kingdom  by  force,"  the  leaders  of  the 
Jewish  people,  like  the  young  lover,  disappointed 
when  his  proposals  are  not  accepted,  these  lead- 
ers spring  into  a  rage,  take  the  life  of  the  object  of 
Israel's  love;  and  commit  suicide  for  the  nation. 

As  the  leaders  went  from  the  scenes  of  the 
cross  back  into  the  senate  chamber  that  day,  there 
was  no  question  in  their  minds  as  to  the  com- 
plete success  of  the  plot  into  which  they  had  en- 
tered. They  felt  that  He,  who  would  not  accept 
their  conception  of  things,  and  whom  they  would 
gladly  have  crowned  as  their  king  if  only  he  had, 
was  now  removed  from  their  midst.  That  no 
more  would  He  trouble  Israel  with  His  teaching 
of  new  and  strange  things.  In  other  words,  they 
knew  that  He  was  dead. 


50  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

As  the  whole  nation,  in  the  thousands  of  its 
representatives  who  were  at  the  feast,  passed  by 
the  cross  and  viewed  his  lifeless  form;  as  they 
read  the  inscription, — "  This  is  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, the  King  of  the  Jews," —  they  all  knew  that 
he  was  dead.  As  the  sun's  face  was  draped  in 
mourning  for  the  space  of  three  hours  in  silent 
testimony,  all  nature  seemed  to  be  acknowledg- 
ing this  mighty  fact  —  His  death. 

As  the  friends  of  Jesus  returned  to  their  homes, 
and  as  his  followers  even  turned  to  take  up  their 
former  occupations,  the  fact  of  his  death  was  writ- 
ing itself  in  the  annals  of  that  people  as  no  other 
fact  of  their  history  had  even  done.  Egyptian 
bondage;  the  ten  plagues  of  Egypt;  the  death 
angel ;  the  crossing  of  the  Red  Sea ;  Mount  Sinai ; 
the  Decalogue ;  the  brazen  serpent ;  the  conquest 
of  Canaan;  the  crowning  of  the  first  king  (Saul)  ; 
the  building  of  Solomon's  Temple;  the  Assyrian 
and  the  Babylonian  captivities ;  all  of  these,  and 
a  thousand  others,  are  facts  no  more  firmly  estab- 
lished than  is  this  one.  Thus,  this  grain  of  wheat 
had  fallen  into  this  field,  and  the  inherent  forces 
had  acted  upon  it  and  killed  it.  Other  peoples 
of  other  localities  and  other  ages  may  hold  what- 
ever notions,  relative  to  the  death  of  Jesus,  they 
may  wish.  But  to  the  Jew,  his  death  has  never 
been  questioned. 

We  now  come  to  the  place  where  the  processes 
of  this  most  fundamental  and  most  universally 
known  of  natural  laws  are  enshrouded  in  the  deep- 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  61 

est  of  mystery.  No  man  has  been  able  to  explain 
these  processes.  The  Master  recognized  that 
they  were  not  known  by  men,  and  made  no  at- 
tempt to  explain  them.  But  said,  "  The  king- 
dom of  God  is  as  if  a  man  should  cast  seed  into 
the  ground  .  .  .  and  the  seed  should  spring  and 
grow  up,  he  Jcnoweth  not  how." 

Perhaps  it  were  well  that  no  attempt  at  ex- 
planation be  made.  That  we  pause  before  the 
great  silent  mystery  in  frank  acknowledgment 
that  we  do  not  "  know  how."  But  it  were  well 
also  that  we  do  not  single  out  this  mystery,  of 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus,  and  arbi- 
trarily put  it  in  a  class  by  itself ;  and,  then,  make 
our  own  arbitrary  classification  the  occasion  for 
rejecting  it.  Is  it  not  much  more  complimentary 
to  one's  intelligence,  while  recognizing  in  this  the 
deepest  of  mystery,  yet  to  frankly  acknowledge 
the  similarity  of  this  whole  matter  with  the  proc- 
esses of  this  great  natural  law? 

If  a  stalk  of  corn  or  of  wheat,  or  of  any  other 
of  the  grains  from  the  vegetable  kingdom  had 
been  crucified,  so  to  speak,  and  then  buried,  would 
anybody  have  thought  it  strange  if  it  had  burst 
forth  into  life.''  You  say  "  no."  "  But  this  was 
a  man!"  Well,  what  of  that?  Is  a  blade  of 
grass  to  have  rights  and  privileges  in  a  world  of 
God's  ordering  that  are  denied  to  a  man?  Is  a 
blade  of  grass  of  more  consequence  than  a  man.'' 
"  Is  a  sheep  of  more  value  than  a  man  ?  "  Jesus 
asked,  in  the  long  ago.     He  said,  "  Behold,  are 


62  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

not  ye  of  much  more  value  than  many  sparrows?  " 
I  repeat  then,  is  a  blade  of  grass  to  have  a  mo- 
nopoly on  the  uses  of  a  great  fundamental  and 
natural  law? 

"  But,"  you  say,  "  any  grain  of  wheat  or  kernel 
of  corn  placed  in  the  earth  would  spring  forth 
into  life."  "  But  this  is  not  true  of  any  and 
every  man."  All  of  which  is  quite  true.  But  you 
would  readily  admit  that  there  was  a  time  when 
this  law,  in  its  application  to  the  seed  kingdom, 
had  its  beginning.  That  before  that  beginning 
could  be,  there  was,  of  necessity,  the  preparation 
of  a  soil  or  field.  That  the  inherent  forces  that 
work  so  mysteriously  upon  the  seed  all  had  to  be 
arranged,  all  of  these  had  to  be  placed  in  their 
mysterious  interrelationships.  Sun,  light,  heat, 
moisture,  soil,  with  all  its  chemical  properties. 
These,  and  no  doubt  numberless  hidden  forces 
which  the  eye  of  man  hath  never  seen.  (For  it 
is  the  working  of  the  hidden  forces  that  veils  this 
whole  process  in  mystery.)  All  of  these  had  to 
be  in  readiness  before  there  could  be  any  begin- 
ning of  the  application  and  operation  of  this 
natural  law  in  the  seed  kingdom. 

But  more  than  this.  You  readily  admit  that, 
with  all  of  these  things  in  readiness,  there  could 
be  no  operation  of  this  law  until  a  seed  has  been 
prepared  in  which  has  been  placed  the  in- 
herent properties  and  powers  to  respond  to  these 
inherent  mysterious  forces  within  the  field.  Still 
more ;  after  soil  and  seed,  with  all  of  their  peculiar, 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  53 

wonderful,  mysterious  forces  and  properties,  have 
been  prepared,  the}'  must  be  brought  together  in 
the  proper  way.  So  that  the  application  of  this 
law  may  be  inaugurated,  with  assurance  of  its  suc- 
cessful operation  throughout  the  whole  realm 
involved. 

Now,  it  was  the  ultimate  destiny  of  the  whole 
human  realm  or  family  that  was  involved  here. 
It  was  the  beginning  of  the  application  of  this 
great  natural  law  to  the  human  family.  The 
Jewish  people  were  the  prepared  field.  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  was  the  prepared  seed.  His  thirty- 
three  years  on  the  earth  was  the  planting  time. 
His  death  and  resurrection  were  the  beginning  of 
the  application  of  this  law  of  life  to  the  whole 
human  family. 

So  that  it  is  with  farreaching  meaning  that 
Jesus  says,  with  reference  to  himself,  "  Except  a 
grain  of  wheat  fall  into  the  earth  and  die,  it 
abideth  by  itself  alone.  But  if  it  die,  it  bringeth 
forth  much  fruit."  If  not  in  Christ,  then,  we  ask, 
in  what  other  person  did  this  law  have  the  begin- 
ning of  its  application  to  the  human  family.?  If 
he  did  not  bring  "  life  and  immortality  to  light," 
who  did.''  In  the  origin  of  the  human  family,  some 
one  became  the  first  "  living  soul."  In  the  devel- 
opment of  the  human  race,  some  one  became  the 
first  "  life  giving  Spirit."  Who  was  that  some 
one  if  not  Jesus  of  Nazareth.''  It  is  written  of 
Adam,  "  He  became  a  living  soul."  Paul  adds  of 
Christ,  "  He  became  a  life  giving  Spirit." 


54  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

It  has  not  been  our  eflFort  here  to  prove  the 
resurrection.  We  have  sought  only  to  point  out 
that  the  fact  of  the  resurrection  is  a  fact,  while 
enshrouded  in  mystery,  yet,  which  is  no  more 
unnatural  than  hundreds  of  incidents  that  pass 
before  our  attention  every  day.  And  which  have 
become  so  common  that  we  speak  and  think  of 
them  as  belonging  to  the  world  of  natural  phe- 
nomena. All  of  which,  including  even  this  one, 
conform  quite  fully  to  this  great  natural  law  of 
sowing  and  reaping.  The  chief  difference  of 
course  being  that  other  phenomena  are  observed 
as  successive  links  in  a  chain,  while  this  one  is  the 
heginnvng  link  in  the  chain.  With  its  one  end 
linked  to  humanity  and  the  other  anchored  in  the 
eternal  purposes  of  the  Creator  himself. 

Once  we  come  to  know  His  purposes,  we  feel 
that  it  is  more  natural  that  such  a  great  and 
fundamental  law  should  be  applied  to  the  human 
family  than  to  any  other  realm  in  His  whole  uni- 
verse. The  more  so  when  we  consider  the  pur- 
pose for  which  it  is  applied.  So  it  would  seem 
that  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  are  in 
harmony  with  this  most  fundamental  of  natural 
laws.  And  is  the  most  natural  thing  that  could 
have  been  in  the  heart  of  the  Creator. 


IV 

THE   RESURRECTION  MEETS  DEMANDS 
OF  PSYCHOLOGY 

Having  shown  that  the  fact  of  the  resurrection 
is  in  full  harmony  with  the  deepest  and  most 
fundamental  law  of  all  life,  we  now  wish  to  show 
that  nothing'  short  of  the  actual  fact  of  the  resur- 
rection could  have  met  the  demands  of  the  science 
of  psychology.  But  some  object  that  psychology 
is  a  new  science,  and  can  have  no  place  in  deter- 
mining a  fact  of  history.  To  which  we  answer, 
quite  true.  It  is  new.  But  the  principles  upon 
which  it  is  founded  are  as  old  as  the  human  mind. 
The  science  of  physiology  is,  likewise,  quite  recent 
in  discovery  and  development.  Yet  the  principles 
are  as  old  as  the  human  body.  The  law  of  gravi- 
tation was  discovered  only  recently,  yet  its  princi- 
ples are  as  old  as  the  universe.  Many,  in  fact 
most  of  the  sciences,  have  been  worked  out  in 
recent  years.  Yet  the  principles  upon  which  they 
rest,  reach  back  into  the  very  beginning  of  things. 

I  suppose  few  now  would  deny  that  Jesus  was 

crucified  and  that  He  died  upon  the  cross.     The 

"  swoon  theory  "  seems  to  have  gone  by  default  in 

recent  years,  even  among  critics  and  skeptics. 

55 


56  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

Now  if  psychology,  the  science  of  the  mind,  or 
the  laws  by  which  it  works,  is  to  be  of  any  help 
to  us  in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  it  cannot  be  by  con- 
sidering how  our  own  minds  may  work  on  the  case. 
But  it  can  only  be  by  watching  the  movements  of 
the  minds  of  those  associated  with  Jesus  and  His 
cause  at  the  time  the  resurrection  is  said  to  have 
occurred.  And  those  also  who  were  implicated 
in  His  crucifixion.  It  matters  little  what  attitude 
our  minds  may  take  toward  the  resurrection,  as  a 
fact.  Removed  as  we  are,  in  point  of  time,  and 
biased  more  or  less  by  the  rationalism  and  nat- 
uralism of  the  day,  it  is  to  say  the  least  very  diffi- 
cult for  us  to  be  absolutely  fair  in  the  handling 
of  evidence  both  for  and  against  the  fact  of  a 
physical  resurrection. 

It  is  not  the  province  of  this  chapter  to  discuss 
the  discrepancies  of  the  gospel  narratives.  That 
belongs  to  the  exegete  and  the  harmonologist,  and 
has  been  dealt  with  by  many  of  our  ablest  writers. 

Our  question  has  to  do,  mainly,  with  the  chang- 
ing attitude  of  the  mind  of  the  friends  and  enemies, 
also  of  those  who  were  neither  friends  nor  enemies 
of  Jesus,  on  account  of  His  death  on  the  cross  and 
that  which  followed. 

Attention  is  called  first  to  the  changing  attitude 
of  mind  of  His  friends.  If  the  Scriptures  are  to 
be  relied  upon,  His  friends  did  not  think  He  would 
die,  and  when  he  expired  upon  the  cross,  the  ex- 
pectant hope  that  they  had  followed  for  the  three 
years  of  His  ministry  was  shattered  and  vanished. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  57 

There  was  a  psychological  change  wrought  in 
them.  They  passed  from  an  attitude  of  simple, 
trustful  followers,  to  chagrined,  hopeless,  yes  even 
despondent  individuals.  They  were  willing  to 
show  any  act  of  respect  or  of  kindness  to  the  body 
of  Jesus.  Because,  though  lifeless  (and  this  fact 
had  stamped  itself  indelibly  into  the  mind  of  every 
follower  of  Jesus),  yet  this  body  represented  to 
them  all  that  was  left  of  a  forlorn  hope.  They 
would  now  return  to  their  former  callings,  after 
their  three  years'  nightmare,  to  recover  the  shock 
and  to  meet  the  rebuffs  of  the  foes  of  Jesus  as  best 
the}^  could. 

The  mind  of  the  followers  of  Jesus,  with  refer- 
ence to  his  death  and  resurrection,  is  perhaps 
most  clearly  expressed  in  Mark  9:10  in  record- 
ing the  incidents  following  the  transfiguration. 
Jesus  charged  the  three  to  tell  no  man  what  they 
had  seen,  until  "  The  Son  of  man  should  arise 
from  the  dead."  "  And  they  kept  the  saying, 
questioning  among  themselves  what  the  '  rising 
again  from  the  dead  '  should  mean." 

Peter  voices  the  same  state  of  mind,  perhaps 
general  among  His  followers,  when  Jesus  "  began 
to  teach  them,  that  the  Son  of  Man  must  suffer 
many  things,  be  rejected  —  and  killed  —  and  rise 
again.  .  .  .  Peter  took  Him  and  began  to  rebuke 
Him."  ^  And  although  severely  rebuked  by  the 
Master  Himself  for  entertaining  such  thoughts, 
yet  this  same  thought,  now  settled  into  a  deep  con- 

1  Mark  — 8:31-32. 


58  TPIE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

viction  and  expressive  of  a  state  of  mind  held  by 
the  friends  of  Jesus,  flashes  from  the  point  of 
Peter's  sword  when  Jesus  is  arrested.-  It  would 
seem  from  Luke  22 :  49  that  the  question  of  de- 
fending Him  was  being  discussed  by  all  His  friends 
who  were  present.  I  mention  this  to  show  that, 
from  their  state  of  mind.  He  was  not  to  die.  Not 
dying,  of  course,  there  was  no  conception  in  their 
minds  of  His  resurrection.  I  need  not  take  the 
space  to  examine  all  the  Scripture  references. 
But  suffice  it  to  say  (and  I  say  it  without  fear  of 
its  being  questioned),  that  in  each  and  all  of  the 
many  instances  when  Jesus  raised  the  question 
with  His  disciples  of  His  death  and  resurrection, 
if  they  gave  any  expression  as  to  the  state  of  their 
minds  (and  they  did  in  a  number  of  cases),  the 
expressions  show  either  that  they  did  not  under- 
stand what  He  meant,  or  that  they  expected  some 
way  to  open  up  whereby  He  would  avoid  death. 
In  either  case,  the  Scriptures  all  show  that  He 
never,  in  all  His  teaching  upon  the  subject, 
brought  their  minds  to  a  state  of  reconciliation 
to  the  thought  of  His  death  and  resurrection. 
They  had  made  no  plans  for  His  burial.  That 
was  left  to  two  who  were  not  open  and  avowed 
disciples,  but  secret  friends  of  Jesus. 

Peter  rushes  to  the  ultimate  consequences  of 
this  state  of  mind  when  he  breaks  out  into  bitter 
cursings,  and  denies  that  he  ever  knew  Jesus.  He 
sees  Jesus  betrayed  into  the  hands  of  his  enemies. 

2  Mark  — 14. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  59 

The  fearful  fact  of  his  death  begins  to  image 
itself,  for  the  first  time,  into  his  very  soul.  He 
is  not  fortified  for  any  such  an  experience.  There 
had  been  no  mental  conception,  no  anticipation, 
of  any  such  a  thing.  He  feels  keenly  the  humilia- 
tion that  will  come  to  him.  This  feeling  was 
shared,  no  doubt,  by  all  the  eleven.  The  feeling 
was  a  perfectly  natural  one.  One  that  has  been 
experienced  by  hundreds  of  men  who  have  seen 
religious  hopes  vanish  as  air  bubbles  before  their 
eyes.  Have  felt  themselves  left  with  nothing  but 
an  exploded  hope.  We  hear  the  echo  of  that  same 
forlorn  hope  from  two  others  of  the  apostles  in 
the  conversation  with  the  "  stranger."  "  We  had 
hoped  it  was  He  who  should  redeem  Israel."  ^ 

Thus,  with  the  crucifixion,  every  hope  they  had 
had  in  Jesus  vanished.  The  three  hours'  expos- 
ure upon  the  cross  "  so  fixed  the  fact  of  His  death 
upon  the  sensitive  plates  of  their  understanding 
as  to  bring  to  naught  all  previous  conceptions." 

They  lingered  near  the  cross  till  His  life  went 
out.  They  left  the  cross  with  a  hope  as  dead 
as  was  the  individual  in  whom  they  had  trusted. 
The  great  fact  of  his  death,  as  a  reality,  had 
written  itself  against  their  wills  in  the  deepest  cur- 
rent of  consciousness.  It  was  there,  indelibly 
written.  It  haunted  them  by  night.  It  was  the 
all  dominating  fact  in  their  day  dreams. 

This,  then,  is  the  state  of  mind  with  which  they 
came  to  the  resurrection  morning.     Something  oc- 

3  Luke  — 24, -.21. 


60  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

curred  that  morning  which  either  erased  or  neu- 
tralized this  fact  of  His  death  in  the  minds  of 
these  apostles.  I  now  ask,  what  was  it?  I  am 
not  now  asking  what  you  think  or  believe  about 
the  resurrection.  I  am  not  now  even  concerned 
as  to  what  I  think  about  that.  But  I  am  ask- 
ing the  deeper,  the  more  difficult  question.  Yes, 
the  one  which,  when  answered,  will  give  the  cor- 
rect answer.  What  necessarily  had  to  happen  if 
the  fact  of  His  death  is  to  be  erased  or  neutral- 
ized in  their  minds.'* 

From  the  psychological  viewpoint,  this  is  the 
crux  of  the  whole  matter.  These  were  men,  ma- 
ture in  mind.  Their  minds  would  work  the  same 
as  yours  or  mine  under  similar  circumstances.  It 
is  not  a  question  of  how  our  minds  might  work  in 
weighing  testimony  and  drawing  conclusions  at 
this  distance.  But  how  our  minds  would  have 
worked  had  we  been  there  or  in  their  places  at  the 
time.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  we  would  have  done 
just  as  they  did. 

"  But,"  some  one  says,  "  they  did  not  want  to 
believe  that  he  was  dead."  (And  I  grant  the  as- 
sertion.) "Therefore;  it  was  easy  for  them  to 
believe  in  his  resurrection."  The  conclusion  does 
not  follow  the  premise.  They  did  not  want  to 
believe  that  He  was  dead.  Therefore  they  did  not 
believe  it  until  it  forced  its  awful  reality  into  their 
consciousness.     Here,  conclusion  follows  premise. 

"  Easy  for  them  to  believe  in  his  resurrec- 
tion !  "     That  statement  was  never  made  by  one 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  61 

who  has  gone  doAvn  into  the  shadow  land,  and 
clasped  the  hand  of  a  friend  and  held  it,  while 
the  awful  unwelcome  fact  of  his  death  was  burn- 
ing its  way  into  his  very  soul.  Did  you  ever  stand 
beside  the  casket  of  your  mother,  brother  or 
friend?  If  you  have,  stand  there  once  more  and 
try  to  make  yourself  say,  "  It  is  easy  for  me  to 
erase  this  experience  from  my  mind."  If  you 
have  never  passed  through  such  an  experience, 
then  your  opinion  may  not  be  very  weighty  when 
you  say  "  it  is  easy  to  erase  the  fact  of  death  " 
from  the  mind. 

But  I  ask  the  question  again.  What  neces- 
sarily had  to  happen  if  the  fact  of  his  death  is  to 
be  erased  or  neutralized  in  their  mind.''  I  an- 
swer, in  the  first  place,  by  saying  that  it  never 
could  be  erased.  In  the  second  place,  I  may  state 
that  it  could  have  been  neutralized  only  by  an 
experience  founded  upon  a  related  fact  no  less 
real.  What  was  that  fact.?  A  fact  real  enough 
to  neutralize  the  thought  of  His  death  in  their 
mind.'*  Or  if  you  have  looked  into  the  lifeless  face 
of  your  sainted  mother,  what  fact  can  ever  neu- 
tralize that  fact  in  your  mind.''  Just  one,  my 
friend.  That  is,  an  actual  resurrection  by  which 
you  shall  be  enabled  to  meet  her  in  life  again. 
No  apparition ;  no  hallucination ;  no  vision ;  no 
hearsay ;  no  anything  but  the  actual  living  pres- 
ence and  association  with  her.  Again  I  ask,  what 
was  the  related  fact,  big  enough  and  real  enough 
to  cover  up  the  fact  of  his  death  in  the  minds 


62  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

of  these  apostles?  Psychologically,  there  is  but 
one  answer.  The  science  of  psychology  demands 
the  actual  resurrection.  Its  demands  are  unmet 
by  anything  less  than  this. 

It  matters  not  what  I  may  think.  What  my 
attitude  toward  miracles  may  be.  I  simply  can- 
not account  for  the  state  of  their  minds  apart 
from  the  actual  resurrection.  Here  is  a  mental 
phenomenon.  As  a  psychologist  I  am  asked  to 
account  for  it.  This  I  simply  cannot  do  apart 
from  the  actual  resurrection.  It  baffles  analysis 
and  explanation  upon  any  other  theory. 

But  now,  as  to  the  foes  of  Jesus.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  they  clamored  for  His  death. 
That  when  Pilate  was  minded  to  let  Jesus  go  a 
great  multitude  of  them  cried,  "  Crucify  him." 
Then  Pilate  washed  his  hands  and  said,  "  I  am 
free  from  the  blood  of  this  just  person."  Then 
all  the  multitude  answered  and  said,  "  His  blood 
be  upon  us,  and  upon  our  children."  So  that 
when  He  expired  upon  the  cross  a  few  hours  later, 
the  fact  of  His  death  was  one  of  the  most  wel- 
come impressions  that  had  been  produced  in  their 
minds.  It  was  a  fact  that  they  would  gladly  re- 
tain in  consciousness  as  long  as  they  lived.  They 
would  be  as  reluctant  to  relinquish  that  fact  as 
the  disciples  had  been  stubborn  in  receiving  it, 
and  much  more  so.  It  is  true,  the  disciples  felt 
humiliated  in  His  death.  But,  aside  from  their 
tender  regard  for  Him,  there  was  only  the  humil- 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  63 

iation  and  disappointment  born  of  blighted 
hopes.  But  with  His  enemies  it  is  far  different. 
If  He  remains  dead,  they  are  justified.  They 
have  put  out  of  the  way  a  disturber  of  the  re- 
ligious peace.  But  if  He  lives,  they  are  all  crim- 
inals of  the  worst  type.  They  are  murderers. 
Consequently,  they  will  hold  to  the  fact  of  His 
death  as  to  no  other  related  to  Him.  If  we 
could  feel  that  there  could  have  been  any  possi- 
bility that  the  disciples  were  mistaken  as  to  His 
actual  death,  not  so  with  these.  His  enemies. 
They  are  going  to  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short 
of  His  real  death.  Not  until  this  fact  is  firmly 
fixed  in  their  consciousness  do  they  leave  the  cross. 

Fifty  days  from  that  time  Peter,  with  the  other 
apostles,  faced  a  large  gathering  of  these  same 
people  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem.  He  then  told 
them  that  "  God  hath  made  that  same  Jesus  whom 
ye  crucified  both  Lord  and  Christ."  Jesus  had 
spent  forty  days  mingling  freely  with  the  people 
in  and  around  Jerusalem,  so  that  the  fact  of  His 
resurrection  had  become  generally  known  and  ac- 
cepted. Three  thousand,  many  of  whom  had  par- 
ticipated in  His  crucifixion,  surrendered  the  fact 
of  His  death  and  accepted  the  fact  of  His  resur- 
rection. 

A  few  days  later  Peter  addressed  a  still  larger 
gathering,  and  said,  "  But  you  denied  the  Holy 
one  and  the  just  one  .  .  .  and  killed  the  Prince 
of  Life,  whom  God  hath  raised  from  the  dead; 


64  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

whereof  we  are  witnesses."  Five  thousand  men 
now  openly  acknowledge  the  fact  of  His  resurrec- 
tion. 

We  need  not  take  into  consideration  each  case. 
But  it  probably  mil  not  be  disputed  that  within 
a  few  months  of  his  resurrection,  most  of  the  peo- 
ple who  had  participated  in  His  crucifixion 
openly  acknowledged  the  fact  of  His  resurrection. 
Now,  the  question  is  again  a  psychological  one. 

With  the  fact  of  His  death  so  willingly  and 
prominently  in  their  minds,  and  desirous  as  they 
were  that  it  remain  there  unchanged,  what  did 
happen  on  the  resurrection  morning  if  He  did  not 
actually  arise  from  the  dead?  Why  did  they 
change  their  minds  in  that  regard?  Would  they 
have  changed  their  attitude  of  mind  in  and  of 
themselves  ?  Or  was  it  a  change  which  they  could 
not  avoid?  How  do  you  account  for  this  mental 
phenomenon,  apart  from  the  actual  resurrection 
of  Jesus?  This  is  a  psychic  phenomenon.  As  a 
psychologist,  I  am  asked  to  account  for  it. 
Again  I  can  do  this  in  no  other  way  than  upon 
the  theory  of  the  actual  resurrection. 

Attention  is  jfinally  called  to  the  state  of  mind 
of  those  who  were  perhaps  neither  essentially 
friends  nor  enemies  of  Jesus  at  the  time  of  the 
crucifixion. 

There  were  thousands  of  loyal,  honest,  well 
meaning  Jews,  who  simply  did  not  know  what  at- 
titude to  take  toward  Jesus  during  his  ministry. 
They  recognized  in  Jesus  a  mighty  miracle  worker 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  65 

and  a  master  teacher.  Yet  they  were  un- 
schooled, unsophisticated.  They  would  gladly 
have  followed  Jesus,  but,  like  the  parents  of  the 
blind  man  whom  Jesus  healed,  they  feared  the  rul- 
ers of  the  synagogues,  for  they  "  had  agreed  al- 
ready that  if  any  man  should  confess  Jesus  to  be 
the  Christ,  he  should  be  put  out  of  the  syna- 
gogue." ^  Membership  in  a  synagogue  had  a 
meaning  then  not  to  be  compared  with  membership 
in  our  churches  of  today.  It  is  not  improbable 
that  to  this  class  belonged  the  very  cream  of  the 
Jewish  Church. 

Then  there  were  the  Josephs  of  Arimathasa, 
the  Nicodemuses  and  the  Gamaliels.  Stephen  also 
was  in  this  class.  Stalwart  men  intellectually. 
Men  high  up  in  official  position.  Men  of  great 
heart  power  who,  in  the  time  of  religious  con- 
troversy, are  too  big  to  be  seen.  Yet  who,  in  the 
hour  of  need,  are  too  little  to  be  seen  for  the  big- 
ness of  the  things  which  they  do.  These  always 
constitute  the  real  power  in  any  community,  age 
or  movement. 

Multiplied  hundreds  of  these  answered  the  first 
call  of  the  gospel  on  Pentecost  and  later.  So  that 
the  early  church  was  literally  filled  with  this  class 
of  people. 

What  was  it  that  moved  these  from  a  state  of 
noncommittal  to  an  attitude  of  open  avowal  of 
the  cause  of  Christ.''  Nothing  short  of  the  fact  of 
the  resurrection  can  again  satisfy  the  demands  of 

4  John  —  9 :  22. 


66  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

psychology  in  the  change  wrought  in  their  minds. 

Here,  then,  are  the  three  classes.  Friends  of 
Jesus,  who  do  not  want  to  believe  the  fact  of  His 
death,  and  who  having  been  forced  to  accept  it, 
relinquish  it  only  when  a  greater  related  fact  has 
neutralized  it.  The  enemies  of  Jesus,  criminals, 
murderers,  glad  to  receive  and  eager  to  retain  the 
fact  of  His  death ;  yet  forced  by  the  other  greater 
fact  to  relinquish  it  and  accept  Him  as  the  liv- 
ing Savior.  And  finally,  the  well  meaning,  honest, 
upright  class  who  had  been  noncommittal  in  atti- 
tude, because  of  a  fear  of  being  dismembered  from 
the  synagogue,  or  some  other  unknown  cause. 
These  are  brought  to  a  positive,  open  attitude  of 
friendship  toward  Jesus. 

Now  we  ask  once  more,  in  the  face  of  the  di- 
vergent psychic  phenomena  here  evident,  what 
happened  that  forced  a  blending  of  all  these  into 
a  unified  attitude  of  love  and  loyalty  to  Jesus.'' 

The  actual  resurrection  of  Jesus  is  the  one 
thing  that  can  meet  the  demands  of  the  science  of 
psychology  in  this  matter. 


THE  RESURRECTION 
ITS  PLACE  IN  SCRIPTURES  AND  FORCE  OF  LOGIC 

We  have  shown  that  the  resurrection  is  in  full 
harmony  with  the  deepest  and  most  fundamental 
law  of  all  life  and  existence.  That  instead  of 
being  unnatural  it  is,  therefore,  the  most  natural 
thing  that  we  could  expect  from  Him  who  is  the 
Creator  of  life  and  the  author  of  its  laws.  We 
have  shown  that  nothing  short  of  the  actual  resur- 
rection could  have  met  the  demands  of  the  sci- 
ence of  psychology.  That  the  divergent  psychic 
phenomena,  so  in  evidence  at  the  time  of  the  cru- 
cifixion, could  not  have  been  unified  in  the  attitude 
toward  Jesus  apart  from  the  actual  resurrection. 
That,  therefore,  these  psychic  phenomena  are  in- 
explainable  upon  any  theory  that  eliminates  the 
actual  fact  of  the  resurrection. 

We  now  wish  to  speak  of  the  position,  from  the 
Scriptural  viewpoint,  which  the  fact  of  the  resur- 
rection had  in  the  beginnings  of  Christianity ;  and 
the  conclusion  to  which  we  are  impelled  by  the 
force  of  logic. 

Matthew  tells  us  that  the  Roman  guard  was 

67 


68  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

placed  to  watch  the  sepulcher.  This  probably 
consisted  of  sixty  soldiers,  with  the  night  divided 
into  four  watches.  Fifteen  soldiers  would  be  on 
guard  during  each  watch.  At  the  critical  mo- 
ment (which  in  this  instance  of  course  was  the 
last  watch  of  the  night  before  the  morning  of  the 
first  day)  it  would  be  arranged  for  the  whole 
guard  to  be  upon  the  scene.  The  statement  of 
Matthew,  (who  himself  had  been  in  the  service  of 
the  Roman  government,  and  who  to  some  extent 
knew  the  graft  of  office)  is  that  these  soldiers 
"  became  as  dead  men,"  in  the  presence  of  the 
resurrection.  That  they  afterwards  came  into 
the  city  of  Jerusalem  and  told  the  chief  priests 
the  whole  story  of  the  resurrection,  just  as  it  had 
happened,  as  nearly  as  they  could.  That  the 
priests  and  the  elders  then  got  together  and  held 
a  counsel.  That  in  this  counsel  they  entered  into 
an  agreement  to  bribe  the  guard.  That  this  cost 
them  a  considerable  sum  of  money.  And  a  pledge 
that  if  it  became  necessary,  they  would  stand  be- 
tween the  governor  and  the  soldiers.  The  soldiers 
were  to  say  that  the  disciples  stole  the  body  away 
while  they  were  asleep.  On  the  statement  of  Mat- 
thew they  were  "  as  dead  men."  On  their  own 
public  testimony  they  were  asleep.  But  in  neither 
event  can  their  testimony  be  admitted  as  evidence 
in  the  case  as  to  what  really  happened  on  that 
morning. 

When     Jesus     appeared     unto     the     Apostles 
after    his    resurrection,    we    are    told    by    John 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  69 

(20:24)  that  Thomas  was  not  present.  That 
when  they  told  him  that  Jesus  had  arisen;  that 
they  had  seen  him ;  he  said,  "  Except  I  shall  see 
in  His  hands  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  put  my 
finger  into  the  print  of  the  nails,  and  put  my  hand 
into  His  side,  7  zvill  not  believe.^'  We  learn  from 
Luke  (24:9-11)  that  when  the  women,  who  were 
first  at  the  sepulcher,  told  the  apostles  that  He 
had  arisen,  "  their  words  seemed  to  them  as  idle 
tales,  and  they  believed  them  not."  A  few  days 
later  Jesus  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  disciples, 
Thomas  being  present,  and  said,  "  Thomas  reach 
hither  thy  finger,  and  see  my  hands,  and  reach 
hither  thy  hand,  and  put  it  into  my  side;  and  be 
not  faithless  but  believing."  And  Thomas,  the 
doubter,  said  "  My  Lord  and  my  God."  Jesus 
said,  "  Because  thou  hast  seen  me  thou  hast  be- 
lieved ;  blessed  are  they  who  have  not  seen  and  yet 
have  believed." 

When  the  women  first  brought  the  news  of  the 
resurrection  to  the  apostles,  Peter  and  John  ran 
to  the  tomb.  They  saw  the  open  and  empty  tomb. 
They  saw  the  burial  clothes.  Peter  entered  into 
the  tomb  and  saw  the  napkin  that  had  been  about 
His  head,  folded  and  lying  in  a  place  by  itself. 
Then  John  entered  and  saw  the  same  things. 
"  And  believed."  ^  Peter  and  John  left  the  tomb 
that  morning  convinced  of  the  resurrection.  This 
conviction  passed  from  the  realm  of  belief,  founded 
upon  the  testimony  of  the  women,  the  empty  tomb, 

t  John  — 20:  S. 


70  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

the  burial  clothes,  the  folded  napkin,  etc.,  into 
the  realm  of  actual  fact  when  in  the  evening  Jesus 
"  stood  in  their  midst,"  the  doors  being  shut,  and 
asked  them  to  examine  His  hands  and  His  side. 

For  the  next  forty  days  Jesus  is  with  the 
apostles,  in  the  most  intimate  relationships.  He 
showed  Himself  to  be  alive  by  all  kinds  of  "  infalli- 
ble proofs."  He  taught  them  during  these  days, 
specifically,  of  the  one  great  subject  of  His  whole 
ministry ;  viz.,  "  The  kingdom  of  God."  He 
finally  commanded  them  to  wait  in  Jerusalem  until 
the  coming  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  them,  with  the 
instruction  that  the  Spirit  would  guide  them  in  all 
the  work  of  the  coming  kingdom.  He  was  then 
received  back  to  the  Father,  where  he  was  coro- 
nated the  king  of  this  kingdom. 

Beginning  at  nine  o'clock  on  the  first  Pente- 
costal morning,  after  the  resurrection,  the  procla- 
mation of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus  went  forth  to 
the  world.  It  went  forth  from  Peter,  the  one  com- 
missioned to  be  "  first  among  equals."  It  went 
forth  as  a  part  of  the  gospel  message.  It  was 
proclaimed  hy  those  who  ate,  walked  and  talked 
with  Jesus  for  forty  days  after  His  resurrection. 
Those  chosen  to  be  eye  witnesses  of  His  resurrec- 
tion. It  was  proclaimed  to  those  who  had  partici- 
pated in  His  crucifixion,  many  of  whom  had  seen 
Him  after  His  resurrection,  and  all  of  whom  had 
the  opportunity  to  know  of  the  truthfulness  of  the 
proclamation. 

Assume  for  a  moment  that  this  proclamation  is 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  71 

not  true.  We  can  then  see  how  entirely  out  of 
place  it  was  to  proclaim  it  in  Jerusalem,  the  very 
city  in  which  every  citzen  had  the  opportunity  to 
know  or  find  out  as  to  the  truthfulness  of  the 
resurrection.  We  can  see  how  easily  public  senti- 
ment would  have  been  set  against  the  apostles  and 
the  church.  But  on  the  contrary,  the  statement 
is  made  in  this  very  connection,  that  "  they  took 
their  food  with  gladness  and  singleness  of  heart 
praising  God  and  having  favor  with  all  the  peo- 
ple." ^  It  might  have  been  excusable  to  have 
preached  this  falsehood  in  some  locality  far  dis- 
tant from  Jerusalem.  For  there  the  people  could 
not  have  known  positively,  and  would  have  been 
left  to  their  acquaintance  with  and  confidence  in 
the  speakers.  But  how  foolish  it  was,  from  the 
viewpoint  of  common  sense  and  general  princi- 
ples, to  expect  to  build  a  church  on  a  falsehood 
by  proclaiming  that  falsehood  first  in  the  one  city 
where  all  the  people  knew,  or  could  know,  it  was  a 
falsehood. 

But  if  the  ordinary  citizen  could  know,  how  the 
foolhardiness  of  these  apostles  is  multiplied  when 
we  consider  that  they  proclaimed  this  as  a  fact 
to  the  identical  individuals  who  crucified  Jesus, 
and  who  had  guarded  and  watched  the  tomb  at 
every  tick  of  the  clock,  and  who  could  have  re- 
buked the  lie  in  the  very  teeth  of  him  who  was 
speaking  it.  If  lie  it  were  I  He  who  assumes  that 
these  apostles  are  proclaiming  a  falsehood,  throws 
2Acts  —  2:4i7,  :'4'r::|"?3 


7S  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

this  whole  matter  from  the  realm  of  logic,  and 
makes  the  whole  procedure  of  the  apostles 
imbecilic. 

When  one  was  chosen  to  fill  the  place  of  Judas, 
Peter  laid  down  the  rule  that  he  must  be  from 
those  who  had  followed  Jesus  from  His  baptism 
to  His  ascension.  One  who  had  been  an  eye  wit- 
ness of  all  the  details  of  Jesus'  ministry,  and  who 
could  testify  as  an  eye  witness  of  the  resurrection. 
The  resurrection  was  preached  in  the  first  apos- 
tolic sermon.  It  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  para- 
graph from  an  apostolic  sermon  that  does  not 
contain,  either  by  statement  or  direct  implication, 
the  fact  of  the  resurrection.  The  church  was 
established  and  grew  upon  that  truth. 

Paul  says  ^  that  the  gospel  message  is  the  death, 
the  burial  and  the  resurrection  of  Jesus.  It  was 
so  understood  by  Peter,  James  and  John;  by 
Stephen  and  Philip ;  and  was  so  proclaimed  by  all 
who  "  were  scattered  abroad."  And  who  "  went 
everywhere  preaching  the  word."  Now  if  there 
had  been  any  weakness  about  the  fact  of  the  resur- 
rection, the  early  preachers  would  certainly  have 
known  it  and,  therefore,  would  not  have  presented 
this  as  the  leading  and  first  fact  in  the  entire  chain. 
It  is  not  what  /  think  about  miracles ;  not  what 
you  may  think.  But  seriously,  what  would  com- 
mon sense  and  the  logic  of  the  whole  situation  have 
impelled  them  to  do  in  the  matter.?  On  the  as- 
sumption that  they  were  rogues  and  entered  into  a 

3/  Cor.— 15:1-4. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  73 

conspiracy  to  deceive,  would  they  not  have  had 
sense  enough  to  have  held  the  matter  of  the  resur- 
rection in  the  background?  To  have  touched 
upon  it  carefully?  How  does  the  attorney  handle 
the  weak  link  in  the  chain  of  his  evidence?  Does 
he  hold  it  before  the  judge  and  jury  first,  last  and 
always  ? 

Jesus'  body  was  not  in  the  tomb  after  that 
morning  of  the  first  day.  This  is  conceded  by 
friend  and  enemy  alike.  There  are  then  three 
possible  hypotheses  relative  to  His  body.  First, 
He  could  have  been  stolen  from  the  tomb  by  His 
friends.  Secondly,  He  could  have  been  stolen 
from  the  tomb  by  His  enemies.  Thirdly,  He  could 
have  arisen  and  walked  forth  into  life. 

To  have  stolen  the  body,  the  disciples  would 
have  had  to  pass  in,  break  the  Roman  seal  and 
pass  out  with  the  body,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Roman  guard.  This  in  itself  would  be  highly  im- 
probable. But  more  than  this,  they  would  have 
had  to  conceal  the  body,  so  that  no  one  was  ever 
able  to  find  it.  Another  most  difficult  thing. 
They  then  would  have  had  to  enter  into  a  league 
to  perjure  their  own  conscience  on  the  matter  as 
long  as  they  lived.  This  would  be  the  most  diffi- 
cult of  all.  When  we  consider  the  number  and 
character  of  the  people  involved,  this  would  be 
next  to  impossible.  No  motive  can  be  assigned, 
as  none  existed,  sufficient  to  justify  any  such  pro- 
cedure. 

If  He  were  stolen,  it  must  then  have  been  by  His 


74  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

enemies.  They  arrested  Him.  They  influenced 
Pilate  to  give  permission  to  crucify  Him.  They 
called  for  the  release  of  Barabbas  instead  of  Jesus. 
They  said  they  were  willing  to  accept  the  responsi- 
bility for  His  blood.  They  finally  crucified  Him. 
They  were  murderers.  Therefore,  none  too  good 
in  character  to  have  stolen  the  body  from  the 
grave.  They  themselves,  indeed,  suggested  the 
thought  of  stealing  the  body  from  the  tomb. 
They  had  the  tomb  sealed.  They  placed  the 
guard.  The  guard  was  under  their  instructions. 
They  talked  first  with  the  guardsmen  after  they 
left  the  sepulcher.  They  had  access  to  the 
sepulcher  all  the  time.  They  had  the  only  avail- 
able opportunity  to  steal  the  body.  Logic  would 
impel  the  conclusion,  therefore,  that  if  any  liv- 
ing persons  removed  the  body  from  the  tomb,  they 
were  from  among  the  enemies  of  Jesus. 

Then  He  either  arose  from  the  grave,  laid  aside 
the  burial  clothes,  and  walked  forth  into  life,  or  He 
was  carried  from  the  tomb  by  some  of  His  ene- 
mies. It  was  only  three  days  from  the  time  of 
His  burial  till  all  Jerusalem  was  filled  with  the 
talk  of  His  resurrection.  There  were  but  the 
two  classes.  Those  who  enthusiastically  pro- 
claimed His  resurrection ;  and  those  who  were 
against  it.  The  line  was  drawn.  The  issue  was 
clear  cut.  If  He  had  been  yet  in  the  tomb,  all 
Jerusalem  could  have  visited  the  tomb  (as  hun- 
dreds no  doubt  did)  and  could  have  seen  for  them- 
selves.    He  was  not  there.     Where  was  He.'' 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  75 

When  the  disciples  began  to  preach  that  He 
had  arisen;  and  when  thousands  began  to  flock  to 
and  accept  their  teaching,  do  you  not  think  that 
the  enemies  and  unbelievers  in  their  extremity 
would  have  produced  the  dead  body  of  Jesus  in 
order  to  have  nailed  the  falsehood  and  thus 
brought  to  naught  the  whole  movement?  Yes, 
you  know  they  would  have  done  this  if  they  could. 
There  has  never  been  a  day  since  that  resurrection 
morning,  nor  a  community  on  the  face  of  the 
earth,  in  which  the  enemies  of  Jesus  would  not  have 
quickly  produced  the  dead  body  of  Jesus  in  order 
to  silence  the  teaching  on  the  resurrection  if  it 
had  been  in  their  power  to  do  so. 

My  point  is,  that  these  enemies  and  unbelievers 
in  Jerusalem  had  the  power  and  the  opportunity 
(on  the  supposition  that  he  did  not  arise)  to  pro- 
duce His  body.  That  before  they  would  have  al- 
lowed the  preaching  of  the  resurrection  to  have 
succeeded,  they  would  have  done  this.  That  the 
fact  that  they  did  not  do  so  is  a  manifest  evidence 
in  itself  that  He  had  arisen  from  the  dead. 
Every  sermon  preached  was  a  direct  challenge  to 
every  enemy  or  unbeliever  to  accept  its  truth,  or 
present  the  dead  body  of  Jesus,  or  at  least  explain 
where  it  was.  In  the  absence  of  the  body,  and  in 
the  failure  of  the  unbelievers  to  make  any  reason- 
able explanation  as  to  its  whereabouts,  we  are 
impelled  by  the  very  force  of  reason  and  logic  to 
the  conclusion  that  He  arose  from  the  dead. 

The  enemies  and  unbelievers  thought  to  meet  the 


76  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

challenge  by  hurling  back  at  the  disciples  the 
counter-challenge,  "  You  produce  the  living 
body."  This  the  disciples  did  by  pointing  to  the 
Church  of  Christ,  or  body  of  Christ,  as  they  called 
it  in  many  instances  in  the  New  Testament.  Thus 
it  is,  that  the  issue  over  the  body  of  Jesus  has 
moved  down  through  the  centuries.  While  infi- 
dels and  unbelievers  in  all  ages  have  been  unable 
to  find  and  present  the  dead  body  of  Jesus,  yet 
they  have  always  pointed  the  finger  of  scorn  at  the 
church  and  have  denied  that  it  was  the  body  of 
Christ  or  that  there  was  anything  divine  about  it. 
I  presume  this  will  continue  till  the  end  of  time. 
Here,  then,  the  matter  rests.  The  body  of 
Jesus  was  practically  in  the  hands  of  His  enemies 
from  the  arrest  until  the  morning  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. He  then  appeared  to,  and  continued  with, 
the  Apostles  for  the  next  forty  days,  forcing  them, 
against  their  own  first  thought  in  the  matter,  to 
accept  the  fact  of  His  resurrection.  He  com- 
manded them  to  wait  in  Jerusalem  for  the  coming 
of  the  Spirit.  When  the  Spirit  came,  they  knew 
that  this  was  evidence  of  His  acceptance  and  coro- 
nation at  the  Father's  right  hand.  All  things 
were  ready  then  for  the  Spirit's  public  proclama- 
tion, through  Peter,  that  He  had  arisen  from  the 
dead;  and  had  been  made  both  Lord  and  Christ. 
This  occurred  in  Jerusalem  on  Pentecost.  In  the 
very  city  where  He  was  crucified.  It  was  pro- 
claimed to  the  very  people  who  had  participated  in 
His  crucifixion.     Many  of  these  accepted  the  fact 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  77 

of  the  resurrection.  Every  sermon  became  a  chal- 
lenge to  unbelievers  to  accept  the  resurrection  or 
produce  the  body  of  Jesus.  Finally  the  church 
stood  forth  as  the  mystical  body  of  Jesus  on  the 
earth,  and  was  pointed  to  as  the  divine  institution 
in  which  dwelt  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 

If  infidels  and  unbelievers  in  all  ages  have  been 
unable  to  produce  the  dead  body  of  Jesus,  then 
they  ought  to  keep  still  in  this  matter.  But  that 
in  no  way  releases  the  believers  from  the  responsi- 
bility of  producing  the  living  body,  the  church, 
on  the  earth,  and  using  every  available  oppor- 
tunity to  extend  its  power  and  influence  as  the  ages 
move  on.  It  was  the  living  body  and  presence 
of  Jesus  in  and  around  Jerusalem  during  those 
forty  days  that  paralyzed  the  infidels  of  that  city, 
and  made  them  helpless  in  their  opposition  to  the 
church.  He  has  had  that  same  effect  in  every 
community  in  all  ages  when  he  has  really  lived 
in  His  body  —  the  church. 

"  When  the  trumpet  of  the  Lord  shall  sound  and  time 
shall  be  no  more. 
And  the  morning  breaks  eternal  bright  and  fair; 
When  the  saved  of  earth  shall  gather  over  on  the 
other  shore. 
And  the  roll  is  called  up  yonder,  I'll  be  there. 

On  that  bright  and  cloudless  morning  when  the  dead 
in  Christ  shall  rise. 
And  the  glory  of  his  resurrection  share; 


78  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

When  his  chosen  ones  shall  gather  to  their  home  be- 
yond the  skies, 
And  the  roll  is  called  up  yonder,  I'll  be  there." 

Standing  before  the  lifeless  form  of  Lazarus, 
Jesus  said  to  his  sisters  in  discussing  the  question 
of  the  resurrection,  "  I  am  the  resurrection  and 
the  life."  ^  Paul  says,  "  But  now  hath  Christ 
been  raised  from  the  dead  and  hath  become  the 
first  fruits  of  them  that  are  asleep.  For  since  by 
man  came  death,  by  man  came  also  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead."  '^  Even  so  may  it  come  to  all 
who  love  life  and  righteousness  in  Christ. 


*  John  — 11:35. 
6/  Cor.— 15:20. 


VI 


THINGS  PERTAINING  TO  THE 
KINGDOM 

ACTS  — 1:3 

We  have  passed  the  Easter  time,  so-called,  in 
the  events  of  the  life  of  the  Savior.  We  have 
dealt  with  the  resurrection  as  the  greatest  fact 
in  the  chain  of  Christian  doctrine,  first  as  to  its 
naturalness  in  the  light  of  modern  science ;  sec- 
ondly, psychologically ;  and  thirdly,  as  to  the  logic 
of  the  facts  in  the  case.  It  will  be  in  order  now 
for  us  to  take  up  some  of  the  important  matters 
which  come  in  the  history  succeeding  the  resurrec- 
tion. 

First  in  order  is  the  forty  days  between  the 
resurrection  and  the  ascension.  We  are  told  in 
our  text  that  Jesus  was  seen  for  forty  days  by 
the  apostles  whom  He  had  chosen,  and  that  He 
spoke  to  them  during  this  time  of  the  things  per- 
taining to  the  Kingdom  of  God.  One  short  chap- 
ter in  each  of  the  synoptics,  two  in  John,  and 
eight  verses  in  the  opening  chapter  of  Luke's 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  are  all  we  have  in  the  in- 
spired record  of  Jesus'  association  with  his  apps- 

79 


80  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

ties  after  the  resurrection.  Certainly  very  brief 
for  so  important  a  period  of  the  stay  of  our 
Savior  upon  the  earth.  A  period  in  which  every- 
thing pertaining  to  the  kingdom  was  taking  its 
final  and  eternal  form,  that  is  so  far  as  the  estab- 
lishment and  development  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  among  men  is  concerned.  Had  not  John 
preached  "  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand  " 
during  his  ministry  four  years  previous  to  this? 
Did  not  the  Master  enter  upon  His  ministry  three 
and  a  half  years  prior  to  this,  preaching  from  the 
same  topic?  Did  He  not  select,  qualify  and  send 
out  first  the  twelve  and  later  the  seventy,  instruct- 
ing them  to  preach  upon  the  same  topic?  Had 
not  "  all  Judea  "  repented  at  John's  preaching? 
What,  then,  was  there  new  in  this  teaching  of 
the  things  pertaining  to  the  Kingdom  of  God? 
What  was  the  new  element  or  force  in  this  teach- 
ing? Yes,  there  was  the  new  element.  The  un- 
known quantity  in  the  human  side  of  the  equation 
has  become  known.  It  is  not  a  thing  to  be  de- 
termined now  by  future  history;  but  a  thing 
that  is  to  determine  future  history.  Teaching 
that  had  previously  been  based  upon  the  pro- 
spective will  now  be  based  upon  the  retrospective. 
As  everything  had  looked  forward  to  the  cross  and 
resurrection  in  anticipation,  so  now  everything 
will  look  back  to  the  resurrection  in  realization. 

The  kingdom  is  to  continue  until  the  end  of 
time,  and  is  to  subdue  all  things.  And  in  the 
teaching  concerning  the  kingdom,  the  resurrection 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  81 

is  to  be  the  dominant  fact,  the  ever  abiding  and 
constant  element.  It  is  the  one  gigantic  fact  of 
the  gospel. 

In  the  second  place,  in  this  kingdom  are  to  be 
permanent  institutions,  first  among  which  is  to  be 
the  initiatory  rite  into  the  kingdom,  Christian  bap- 
tism. There  had  been  the  various  washings  and 
dippings  of  the  Hebrew  people  for  various  pur- 
poses. Also  the  baptism  of  John,  which  had  had 
its  day  and  fulfilled  its  mission.  All  of  these  had 
been  temporal.  There  is  now  to  be  instituted  a 
baptism  that  shall  be  as  eternal  as  time.  Though 
not  differing  in  its  form  from  John's,  yet  it  will 
differ  in  almost  every  other  essential.  The  form 
even  will  have  new  significance.  It  will  set  forth 
in  picture,  beautifully,  the  death,  burial  and  resur- 
rection of  the  Savior;  thus  keeping  ever  before 
the  mind  the  big  fact  of  the  gospel.  John's  was 
to  prepare  the  way.  This  is  for  the  purpose  of 
entering  into  that  way.  John's  was  upon  the 
confession  of  sin.  This  is  to  be  for  the  remis- 
sion of  sin.  John's  was  to  prepare  for  the  king- 
dom. This  is  for  the  entrance  into  the  kingdom. 
John's  was  for  the  penitent  Jew.  This  is  for  the 
penitent  of  every  nation.  John's  was  upon  a 
pledge  of  belief  in  Him  who  was  to  come.  This 
is  upon  the  confession  of  Him  who  has  come. 
John's  was  to  get  one  ready  to  accept.  This  is 
to  prepare  one  to  serve.  John's  was  to  agitate 
the  conscience.  This  is  to  clarify  the  conscience. 
John's  was  a  call  to  a  principle.     This  is  a  call 


8a  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

to  a  person.  John's  was  to  entitle  one  to  good 
standing  in  the  Jewish  church.  This  is  to  consti- 
tute one  a  member  of  the  church  of  Christ. 
John's  was  a  worthy  closing  to  the  old  dispen- 
sation. This  is  to  be  a  beautiful  beginning  of  the 
new.  John's  was  the  "  outward  sign  of  an  in- 
ward grace."  This  is  the  entrance  of  a  new  per- 
sonality into  the  life. 

There  is  a  new  term  in  the  Christian  baptismal 
formula.  Men  have  known  the  Father  all  through 
the  Jewish  age  through  the  work  of  the  prophets 
and  other  great  leaders.  They  have  known  the 
Son  in  His  mission  and  ministry  in  the  world. 
But  this  new  personality  that  is  placed  in  the 
baptismal  formula,  the  Holy  Spirit.  What  place 
is  He  to  have  in  this  coming  kingdom?  What 
is  to  be  His  function,  His  place  of  operation,  the 
agency  through  whom  He  is  to  accomplish  His 
work.''  These  were  interesting  questions  in  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  And  we  do  not  have  to  stretch  the  imag- 
ination to  conceive  of  Jesus'  taking  them  over 
this  subject  and  teaching  it  to  them  as  fully  as 
it  was  possible  for  Him  to  do  in  their  limited 
vision  of  the  great  and  eternal  things  of  the  king- 
dom. Teaching  them  that  they,  as  his  chosen 
apostles,  were  to  be  the  first  ones  to  meet  this 
new  personality  that  has  appeared  in  the  new 
baptismal  formula.  That  He  shall  come  to  be 
not  only  with  them  as  the  Savior  had  been,  but  in 
them,  filling  them  with  all  divine  power  and  wis- 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  83 

dom  to  meet  the  problems  of  the  coming  king- 
dom, becoming  in  them,  what  Jesus  had  been  to 
them.  That  His  coming  upon  them  was  to  be  the 
long  promised  "  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit." 
That  Jesus  was  to  ascend  back  to  the  Father,  to 
be  coronated  the  King  in  this  coming  kingdom 
and  from  His  throne  there  in  the  presence  of  the 
Father;  and  by  the  Father's  authority  to  admin- 
ister this  baptism  upon  His  chosen  ones  in  His 
holy  city.  And  further,  that  when  thus  baptized, 
they  are  to  constitute  the  kingdom.  God  dwelling 
in  them  in  the  Spirit,  and  they  dwelling  in  the 
earth  in  the  human  family,  thus  constituting  the 
Kingdom  of  God  among  men.  This  also  would 
be  the  Kingdom  of  God  within  them  even  as  He 
had  said,  "  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  within  you." 
But  still  further,  that  He  would  seek  to  explain 
to  them,  as  pertaining  to  the  kingdom,  how  this 
new  personality,  this  Spirit  that  dwells  in  them, 
so  potent  and  powerful,  is  to  pass  into  the  lives 
of  all  those  who  come  penitently  and  submit  to 
this  new  and  eternal  baptism  of  the  kingdom,  that 
He  may  there  work  the  regeneration  and  trans- 
formation of  the  life  and  out  from  that,  as  a 
citadel  of  power  and  influence,  reach  other  lives 
until  He  has  conquered  the  world  for  the  King. 

But  there  was  another  eternal  institution  that 
was  destined  to  play  no  small  part  in  this  coming 
kingdom,  and  as  the  baptismal  ordinance  is  to  be 
a  powerful  teacher  of  the  great  facts  of  the  gos- 
pel — '  the  deathj  burial  and  resurrection  —  so  thi§ 


84.  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

one  also,  the  communion  seryice.  And  Jesus 
must  have  a  final  word  with  them  upon  this  in- 
stitution. When  as  a  family  they  shall  meet  to- 
gether there  is  to  be  an  institution  that  shall  be 
a  deep  searcher  of  the  heart  motives,  a  powerful 
rectifier  of  the  daily  walk,  deeply  devotional,  re- 
ligious and  spiritual.  This  institution,  when  the 
heart  is  in  deep,  serious,  solemn,  prayerful  medi- 
tation ;  when  the  heart  is  beating  in  accord  with 
other  loyal  hearts,  in  sweetness  of  fellowship,  in 
the  sacredness  of  the  Lord's  day,  with  the  holy 
sentiment  of  sacred  song,  with  the  reading  from 
the  sacred  word,  with  all  these  hallowed  influences 
focused  upon  the  heart,  this  institution  —  the 
communion  —  is  to  take  advantage  of  this  op- 
portune time,  this  most  teachable  moment,  to 
impress  upon  the  heart  the  deep  significance  of 
the  Lord's  death.  True,  Jesus  had  broken  the 
bread  and  partaken  of  the  wine  in  their  presence. 
Had  even  given  it  to  them  to  eat  and  to  drink, 
anticipating  the  cross.  But  the  bread  and  the 
wine  are  to  be  taken  "  new  in  my  Father's  king- 
dom." That  is,  with  new  significance.  Yes, 
Jesus  must  speak  to  them  of  this  institution. 
The  how  and  when  and  where  it  is  to  be  observed. 
His  death  and  resurrection  are  to  speak  through 
this  institution  to  the  thousands  of  generations 
yet  unborn  in  shaping  the  future  history  of  the 
world  in  this  coming  kingdom.  Thus  is  this  in- 
stitution to  have  such  an  abiding  and  prominent 
place  of  influence  in  the  coming  kingdom  that  it 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  85 

may  powerfully  "  show  (proclaim)  the  Lord's 
death  till  He  comes  again."  In  the  church,  then, 
on  the  Lord's  day,  when  the  congregations  of 
disciples  have  come  together,  this  will  be  the 
proper  and  fitting  time  for  the  observance  of  this 
eternal  ordinance.  If  not  in  the  preaching  of 
the  word,  if  in  no  other  way,  if  only  in  the  deep, 
silent,  solemnity  of  the  occasion,  yet  they  are 
never  to  come  together  upon  the  Lord's  day  with- 
out each  one  becoming  a  participator  in  the  proc- 
lamation of  their  Lord's  death  and  resurrection. 
This  simple,  sacred  service  is  to  be  the  thing  that 
is  to  cause  the  Marys  and  the  Salomes  to  meet 
at  the  sepulcher  of  their  Lord  upon  the  first  day 
of  the  week.  This  holy  service  is  to  be  the  power 
that  is  to  attract  the  Peters  and  the  Johns  and 
cause  them  to  hasten  to  the  sepulcher  (the  death 
and  resurrection)  of  their  Lord  upon  the  Lord's 
day.  This  service,  the  flower  with  sweet  incense 
with  which  His  grave  is  to  be  decorated  upon 
each  Lord's  day.  Not  only  is  this  service  to 
be  powerful  in  strengthening  the  individual  dis- 
ciple and  in  edifying  the  congregations  of  disci- 
ples everywhere  and  always,  but  it  is  to  be  a  po- 
tent proclaimer  of  the  Lord's  death  to  the 
unbeliever  who  may  chance  to  be  within  the  con- 
gregation. And  this  leads  us  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  next  abiding  and  permanent  institution 
in  this  coming  kingdom,  the  living  ministry. 

God  had  chosen  in  this  coming  kingdom  that  by 
the  "  foolislmess  of  preaching  "  those  who  believe 


86  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

should  be  saved.  In  each  of  the  synoptics  Jesus 
gives  His  final  word  upon  this  abiding  institution 
of  the  gospel  age  substantially  as  it  is  given  by 
Matthew,  "  Go  ye  therefore  and  teach  all  nations, 
baptizing  them  into  the  name  of  the  Father  and 
of  the  Son  and  of  the  Holy  Spirit ;  teaching  them 
to  observe  all  things  whatsoever  I  have  com- 
manded you;  and  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even 
unto  the  end  of  the  world."  John  gives  His  final 
words  to  His  apostles  as  follows,  "  As  my  Father 
hath  sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you."  "  Whose 
soever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto  them ; 
and  whose  soever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are  re- 
tained." John  also  records  the  incidents  of  Pe- 
ter's leading  the  disciples  on  a  fishing  expedi- 
tion ;  the  sleepless  and  fruitless  night  having  been 
spent,  Jesus  came  unto  them  in  the  morning  and 
had  a  testing  and  interesting  conversation  with 
Peter  upon  the  things  pertaining  to  the  coming 
kingdom.  During  this  interview,  Peter  is  pledged 
not  once,  not  twice,  but  thrice  to  feed  the  sheep. 
So  that  the  function  of  this  permanent  institution 
in  the  coming  kingdom  is  somewhat  twofold  in 
its  nature,  evangelizing  and  shepherdizing.  The 
teaching  of  "  all  nations  "  and  the  teaching  of 
"  all  things  commanded."  Accordingly,  we  hear 
Paul  speaking  in  a  later  day,  with  a  clear  under- 
standing of  the  things  that  Jesus  was  at  this  very 
time  doing.  For  it  is  the  "  forty  days  "  just  pre- 
ceding His  ascension  of  which  we  are  speaking; 
and  during  which  time  He  "  spake  to  the  apostles 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  87 

of  the  things  pertaining  to  the  Kingdom  of  God." 
Paul  says,  "  When  He  ascended  up  on  high,  He 
led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto  men." 
In  the  distribution  of  these  gifts  to  men,  in  the 
beginning  of  this  coming  kingdom,  the  apostle 
goes  on  to  say,  "And  He  gave  some  (gifts  quali- 
fying certain  individuals  as)  apostles;  and  some 
(qualifying  others  as)  preachers;  and  some 
(qualifying  still  others  as)  traveling  evangelists; 
and  some  (gifts  qualifying  others  as)  pastors  and 
teachers."  The  reason  for  this  is  not  difficult  to 
see.  The  time  had  come,  with  the  opening  of  this 
coming  kingdom,  when  by  reason  of  the  unfold- 
ing of  God's  purposes  to  the  children  of  men 
through  the  Hebrew  people,  that  "  they  ought  to 
be  teachers,  that  they  had  need  that  some  one 
teach  them  again  the  rudiments  of  the  first 
principles  of  the  oracles  (purposes)  of  God." 
And  to  supply  this  need,  the  King  must  give 
special  gifts,  conferring  them  upon  certain  indi- 
viduals temporarily,  to  supply  a  present  need  that 
was  twofold  in  its  nature:  First,  the  supplying 
of  efficient  leaders,  teachers,  ministers,  etc.,  to 
guide  and  direct  the  infant  church  or  kingdom  in 
its  growth  and  development;  secondly,  the  supply- 
ing of  individuals  who  could  by  miraculous  deeds 
attest  the  divineness  of  the  kingdom.  These  were 
the  first  ministers  of  the  church.  This  was  the 
first  ministry  of  the  church.  And  it  is  this  of 
which  we  speak  as  an  abiding  institution  in  the 
church.     It  had  its  beginning  in  miracle,  as  we 


88  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

have  seen  —  gifts  miracuously  conferred  upon 
individuals  in  the  origin  of  an  institution,  the  Hv- 
ing  ministry.  So  far  as  we  are  concerned,  this 
is  the  divine  order  in  all  things.  Things  begin  in 
miracle,  or  by  an  act  of  the  Divine  power  and 
will ;  and  then  are  placed  under  the  principles  of 
natural  law,  to  grow  and  develop  accordingly. 
Under  natural  laws  (and  in  this  connection,  by 
natural  laws  is  meant  the  laws  of  the  kingdom  or 
the  laws  natural  to  the  kingdom)  men  are  now  to 
be  trained  for  this  ministry,  as  is  clearly  shown 
by  the  apostle  in  this  same  connection.  In  fact, 
this  seems  to  be  the  chief  function  of  the  church. 
Perhaps  we  had  thought  that  the  church  was  an 
institution  into  which  people  are  gathered  and 
thus  saved ;  and  this  is  of  course  true  in  a  sense. 
But  we  will  have  a  far  clearer  conception  of  the 
church  if  we  think  of  it  as  an  institution  into 
which  people  are  gathered  in  order  to  be  trained 
"  for  the  work  of  the  ministry."  As  the  apostle 
says,  these,  the  first  ministers  of  the  church,  were 
qualified  so  that  they  might  "edify  (train)  the 
saints  unto  the  work  of  the  ministry."  In  our 
own  day  there  is  a  great  dearth  of  men  for  the 
ministry,  due  largely,  apologize  for  it  as  we  may, 
to  the  fact  that  the  church  has  lost  the  art,  has 
ceased  to  perform  the  function,  of  "  training  its 
saints  unto  the  work  of  the  ministry."  There  is 
a  vast  difference  between  a  church's  training  a 
sinless  saint  unto  the  work  of  the  ministry  and  ac- 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  89 

cepting  the  services  of  a  saintless  sinner,  as  that 
of  the  ministry. 

So  we  are  sure  that  Jesus  did  not  speak  the 
final  word  to  His  apostles  "  of  the  things  per- 
taining to  the  coming  kingdom,"  without  speak- 
ing to  them  in  regard  to  this  most  essential  and 
no  less  vital  institution  of  the  kingdom.  He  who 
doubts  need  but  take  a  look  into  the  liistory  of 
the  newly  established  kingdom  when  these  apostles 
are  putting  into  practice,  as  the  Spirit  brings  to 
their  remembrance,  the  "  things  pertaining  to  the 
kingdom "  which  Jesus  had  taught  them.  He 
will  there  see  the  seven  saintly,  spiritual  men  ap- 
pointed to  care  for  the  widows  and  orphans,  a 
holy  ministry  for  which  they  are  fitted  and  one 
that  will  tell  mightily  for  the  extension  of  the 
kingdom.  The  Stephens  and  the  Philips  will  arise 
before  him  in  ever  increasing  numbers.  The 
Barnabuses,  Timothys,  Aquillas  and  Priscillas, 
indeed,  will  come  before  him  in  countless  num- 
bers as  he  reads  that  "  they  that  were  scattered 
abroad  went  everywhere  preaching  the  word." 
All  the  saints,  trained  in  the  highest  sense  of 
the  term  "  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,"  and 
understanding  the  urgent  importance  of  doing 
that  work. 

But  we  must  speak  a  definite  word  in  regard 
to  that  part  of  the  work  of  the  ministry  which 
has  to  do  with  evangelizing.  These  saints  trained 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  then  in  this  phase 


90  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

of  their  work,  which  is  indeed  not  a  small  part, 
are  to  be  trained  to  preach  the  gospel.  This  is 
an  everlasting  gospel,  to  be  proclaimed  by  an  ever- 
lasting and  ever  abiding  institution  within  the 
coming  kingdom  or  church.  Paul  says  "  though 
we  or  an  angel  from  heaven  preach  any  other 
gospel  unto  you  than  that  which  we  have  preached 
unto  you,  let  him  be  accursed."  "  Moreover, 
brethren,  I  declare  unto  you  the  gospel  which  I 
preached  unto  you  .  .  .  how  that  Christ  died  for 
our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures;  and  that 
He  was  buried  and  that  He  arose  again  the  third 
day  according  to  the  Scriptures."  This,  then,  is 
the  gospel  which  this  living  ministry  is  to  be 
trained  to  preach. 

How  beautifully  significant:  how  harmoniously 
Divine!  These  three  abiding  institutions  within 
the  great  institution,  the  church  (the  baptismal 
rite,  the  communion  and  the  living  ministry)  are 
to  unite  their  testimony,  to  exhaust  their  powers, 
to  focus  their  light  upon  the  cross  of  Calvary; 
and  in  the  proclamation  of  His  death,  burial  and 
resurrection  until  He  comes  again.  Well  may  we 
sing  with  the  poet  — 

"  In  the  cross  of  Christ  I  glory; 

Towering  o'er  the  wrecks  of  time; 
All  the  light  of  sacred  story 

Gathers  round  its  head  sublime." 


VII 
THE  TEN  DAYS  OF  PRAYER 

ACTS  —  1:U 

Following  the  resurrection  and  the  "  forty 
days'  teaching  of  the  tilings  pertaining  to  the 
Kingdom  of  God,"  we  have  a  short  period  which 
we  shall  designate  as  the  ten  days  of  prayer. 

We  are  told  that  at  the  end  of  the  forty  days, 
while  in  the  attitude  of  blessing  the  disciples, 
Jesus  was  taken  up  from  their  midst  and  received 
into  heaven.  The  ascension  is  twice  recorded  by 
Luke  and  once  by  Mark.  Luke  tells  us  that 
when  the  company  returned  to  Jerusalem  from 
Olivet  near  Bethany,  the  scene  of  the  ascension, 
the  apostles  resorted  to  the  room  where  they  were 
abiding.  Specifically  naming  the  apostles  as 
abiding  together  in  the  "  upper  room,"  he  says, 
"  These  all  continued  with  one  accord  in  prayer 
and  supplication,  with  the  women,  and  Mary 
the  mother  of  Jesus,  and  with  His  brethren."  ^ 
It  is  ten  days  yet  before  the  kingdom  is  really 
to  be  established  among  men,  of  which  they  had 
heard  so  much  and  seemingly  understood  so  little. 
The  watchword  for  these  ten  days  is  "  Tarry  ye 

1  Acts  —  1: 14. 

91 


92  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

in  Jerusalem."  They  who  could  not  watch  "  one 
hour  "  with  Him  at  Gethsemane's  gate  in  the  very 
shadow  of  the  cross,  who  could  not  hopefully 
tarry  near  the  sepulcher  for  three  short  days,  are 
able  now,  by  the  influence  of  the  fact  of  the  resur- 
rection in  their  minds,  to  "  tarry  "  patiently  for 
ten  days.  How  different  now  the  state  of  mind 
of  the  apostles !  What  a  note  of  certainty  now 
as  compared  with  the  uncertainty  of  their  state  of 
mind  during  the  entombment !  No  fishing  expedi- 
tion now.  No  absent  Thomases  now.  No 
Thomas's  declaration  of  unbelief.  No  talk  of 
"  idle  tales  "  in  these  prayer  meetings.  How  fit- 
ting that  these  be  days  of  prayerful  waiting! 
"  Tarry  ye."  "  These  all  continued  with  one  ac- 
cord in  prayer."  Tell  us  not  that  the  fact  of  the 
resurrection  has  not  dominated  every  other  fact 
in  their  minds.  Changes  have  been  wrought  in 
their  minds  and  lives  that  must  now  be  reckoned 
with.  And  no  theory  of  the  resurrection  will  ac- 
count for  the  change.  The  fact,  and  nothing 
short  of  it,  will  satisfy  the  demands  of  these 
changes  wrought  in  the  minds  of  these  eleven  men. 
The  resurrection,  as  a  fact,  is  beginning  already 
to  do  the  work  in  the  minds  of  these  which  it  is 
destined  to  do,  increasingly  so,  in  the  lives  of  all 
disciples  of  the  Master  until  the  end  of  the  ages. 
They  are  not  in  the  attitude  of  turning  back  to 
their  old  calling  of  fishermen,  but  buoyant  in  the 
hope  of  the  new.  They  are  now  to  be  "  fishers 
of  men." 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  93 

During  their  prayers  and  supplications  they 
take  up  the  matter  of  choosing  one  to  fill  the  apos- 
tleship  vacated  by  Judas,  the  betrayer.  This  is 
a  forward  look  rather  than  a  turning  back.  It 
is  a  manifestation  of  confidence  in  the  coming 
kingdom;  that  the  Savior's  promise  that  they 
"  shall  receive  power,"  will  be  redeemed. 

It  was  at  one  of  the  regular  prayer  meetings 
that  Peter,  when  a  goodly  number  of  the  believers 
had  come  together,  a  hundred  and  twenty  we  are 
told,  brought  the  matter  before  them.  After 
speaking  of  the  betrayal,  the  vacancy  in  the  apos- 
tleship  and  the  prophecy  concerning  its  being 
filled  by  another,  he  then  states  the  qualifications 
whereby  one  would  be  eligible  to  the  office,  and  also 
the  purpose  for  which  he  is  to  be  chosen ;  viz.,  that 
he  may  be  a  witness  with  them  of  the  resurrection. 
They  then  pray  in  an  appropriate  manner  and 
proceed  to  the  election  of  one  to  fill  the  vacancy. 
The  vote  is  taken ;  Mattliias  is  elected  and  "  num- 
bered with  the  eleven  apostles." 

Naturally  enough,  when  Peter  makes  known 
the  qualifications,  and  they  begin  to  cast  about 
among  themselves  to  see  who  is  eligible,  there 
seems  to  be  but  two  among  the  whole  number  of 
the  believers  who  are  eligible.  This  is  only  as  we 
would  naturally  suppose  when  one  of  the  require- 
ments was  that  he  must  have  "  companied  with 
them  all  the  time  that  Jesus  went  in  and  out 
among  them,  from  the  baptism  of  John  to  the  day 
of  his  ascension."     While  there  were,  no  doubt, 


94!  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

many  who  had  been  with  them  nearly  all  the  time, 
perhaps  among  the  women  many  who  had  been 
with  them  all  the  time,  yet  among  the  men  we 
would  naturally  expect  to  find  few  who  had  been 
with  them  all  the  time  between  these  two  events. 
This  would  cover  a  period  of  almost  four  years. 
So  we  are  not  surprised  that  seemingly  there  were 
but  two  of  the  men  who  were  eligible  —  Joseph 
and  Matthias. 

But  this  calls  up  another  question  which  ought 
to  have  at  least  a  passing  notice ;  the  question  of 
"  apostolic  succession."  Claims  have  been  made 
by  certain  religious  denominations  that  there  was 
to  be  in  the  church  a  succession  of  apostles. 
That  when  Peter,  who  was  the  head,  died  the  head- 
ship succeeded  to  another,  and  so  on  down  to  the 
present  time.  That  in  the  matter  of  apostolic 
succession  the  headship  has  succeeded  to  those 
identified  with  this,  that  or  the  other  religious  sect 
as  the  case  might  be.  For  instance,  if  the  Roman 
Catholic  sect,  it  succeeded  to  the  pope  as  head  and 
his  cardinals  as  subordinates.  But  if  the  Episco- 
pal sect,  then  the  bishop,  with  his  subordinates. 
If  the  Mormon  sect,  then  Joseph  Smith  as  head, 
with  his  twelve  apostles.  If  the  Eddy  sect,  then 
it  is  Mrs.  Eddy,  with  her  under  puppets.  If  the 
Advent  sect,  then  it  is  Mrs.  White,  with  her  under 
corps  of  servants.  And  so  on,  until  you  have 
gone  the  rounds.  The  strange  thing  about  the 
apostolic  succession  claim  is  that  those  sects  put- 
ting forward  this  claim  are  as  a  rule  the  farthest 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  95 

from  the  teaching  of  the  apostles  in  the  New  Test- 
ament. But  this  is  only  a  natural  consequence 
of  the  claim.  Believing,  as  they  do,  that  the  head 
men  in  the  church  have  succeeded  to  the  apostle- 
ship,  they  do  not  need  to  heed  the  authority  of  the 
New  Testament  apostles  since  they  have  apostles 
of  their  own  who  can  give  them  apostolic  teaching 
at  any  time. 

But  the  question  ought  not  to  give  us  serious 
difficulty  when  once  we  come  to  see  clearly  that 
Peter  lays  down  a  rule  in  the  matter  of  eligibility 
that  has  never  been  changed,  and  by  reason  of 
which  every  claimant  in  a  later  day  would  be  ruled 
out.  The  pretensions  of  any  claimant  can  easily 
be  overthrown  by  simply  saying  to  him  that  upon 
the  authority  of  Peter  he  is  not  eligible,  since  he 
did  not  accompany  the  disciples  from  the  baptism 
to  the  ascension.  That  he  did  not  see  Jesus  arise 
from  the  tomb.  That  he  has  never  seen  Him 
since  His  resurrection,  save  possibly  in  the  sense 
in  which  all  believers  have  seen  Him,  by  faith  and 
research  into  the  testimony  of  history. 

In  a  later  day,  when  one  was  to  be  grafted  into 
the  apostleship  this  rule  was  not  violated.  He 
did  not  succeed  to  the  office,  but  by  special  miracle 
he  was  caught  up  and  privileged  to  see  Jesus. 
And  we  hear  him  retort,  when  his  apostleship  is 
questioned  at  Corinth,  "Am  I  not  an  apostle.'' 
Have  I  not  seen  Jesus?  "  Will  any  claimants  in 
these  days  reply  in  a  like  manner  when  their  apos- 
tleship is  questioned  .'^     Let  them  be  tested  by  the 


96  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

same  rule ;  if  they  can  substantiate  their  claim  in 
this  particular  and  can  back  up  the  claim  by  genu- 
ine miracles,  as  did  the  New  Testament  apostles, 
Paul  included,  then  we  will  listen  to  them.  But 
otherwise,  we  shall  dismiss  the  question  of  apos- 
tolic succession  as  unworthy  of  serious  consider- 
ation. 

Peter  states  the  purpose  of  this  appointment 
in  the  clearest  possible  manner;  simply  that  the 
one  so  chosen  could  be  a  witness  with  them  of  the 
resurrection.  Tell  us  not  in  the  face  of  this  state- 
ment that  the  resurrection  is  not  the  all  dominat- 
ing and  absorbing  fact  in  their  consciousness.  It 
is  to  be  the  great  fact  of  the  coming  kingdom. 
But  pray  tell  us  how  a  man  is  to  be  a  valid  and 
competent  witness  of  an  event  that  he  did  not  see ; 
that  he  only  knows  by  hearsay  or  by  historical 
testimony? 

But  there  is  another  phase  of  the  choosing  of 
Matthias  which  has  troubled  some,  and  we  must 
not  pass  it  witliout  a  word.  There  is  a  feeling 
that  inasmuch  as  the  apostles  were  told  to  "  tarry 
in  Jerusalem  until  they  were  endued  with  power 
from  on  high,"  and  as  this  had  not  yet  occurred, 
this  appointment  was  out  of  order  and  was  with- 
out Divine  sanction ;  and  hence,  was  not  valid. 
That  in  the  Divine  plan  Paul  was  later  chosen  to 
supply  this  vacancy.  That  his  selection  bears  the 
stamp  of  Divine  approval.  Therefore,  the  choos- 
ing of  Matthias  was  simply  a  blunder  of  impetu- 
ous Peter. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  97 

First,  it  is  not  altogether  improbable  that  this 
is  one  of  the  very  things  that  Jesus  had  taught 
them,  in  the  "  forty  days'  "  teaching ;  secondly, 
there  is  nothing  in  the  New  Testament  that  would 
cast  the  slightest  reflection  upon  this  appoint- 
ment or  upon  the  validity  of  Matthias'  apostle- 
ship.  True,  he  is  never  specifically  mentioned 
afterwards.  But  this  is  no  less  true  of  others  of 
the  apostles.  He  is  mentioned  with  the  others 
later. 

Being  numbered  with  them,  he  was  with  them 
in  the  room  when  on  Pentecost  the  Spirit  came. 
And  we  are  told  the  Spirit  sat  upon  each  of  them, 
that  "  they  were  all  filled  with  the  Spirit,"  and 
"  that  they  spake  as  the  Spirit  gave  them  utter- 
ance." When  Peter  arose  to  speak  upon  that 
occasion  he  is  said  to  have  "  stood  up  with  the 
eleven  " ;  he  being  the  twelfth  one.  "  The  apos- 
tles "  is  a  common  expression,  used  in  a  collective 
sense  frequently  in  the  Acts,  and  unless  otherwise 
modified,  must  be  taken  to  refer  to  the  twelve. 
When  the  complaint  came  concerning  the  neg- 
lected widows  the  twelve  called  the  multitude  of 
the  disciples  together  and  had  the  seven  ap- 
pointed. There  is  no  more  reasonable  way  of 
understanding  these  passages  of  the  Acts  than  to 
think  of  Matthias  as  being  with  the  apostles  and 
one  of  them.  The  more  so  since  there  is  no  evi- 
dence that  he  was  not  there. 

But  the  chief  feeling  against  the  apostleship  of 
Matthias,  I  believe,  is  the  fact  of  the  Divine  call 


98  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

of  Paul  to  the  apostleship.     And  of  this  we  must 
speak     a     word.     First,     must     the     number     be 
twelve,  no  more  and  no  less?     Is  there  anything 
that  forbids   there  being  thirteen,  or  even  more, 
Provided   they   are   Divinely   chosen?     Of   course 
there  were  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  also  twelve  of 
the  patriarchs.     It  will  be  perfectly  in  order  to 
have  an  apostle  for  each  tribe.     But  there  is  a 
whole  world  of  Gentile  people  to  be  saved.     They 
must  hear  His  voice  and  must  come,  "  and  there 
must   be   one    Shepherd   and   one   sheepfold."     Is 
there  anything  to  forbid  the  calling  of  one,  or  a 
dozen  for  that  matter,  to  be  apostles  especially 
to  the  Gentile  world?     True,  the  twelve  were  com- 
missioned to  "  go  into  all  the  world."     This  would 
not  forbid  the  calling  and  qualifying  of  others  also 
for  that  great  task.     I  am  sure  we  all  agree  that 
whatever  the  Apostle  Paul   was,  or  was  not,  to 
the  Jew,  he  was  first,  last  and  always  the  apostle 
with  the  universal  gospel,  to  the  Gentile  as  well 
as  to  the  Jew;  that  his  primary  mission  field  was 
the  Gentile  world.      He  seems  to  be  the  specially 
"  chosen  vessel  of  the  Lord  to  bear  His  name  be- 
fore the  Gentiles."     This  being  true,  and  since  in 
his  own  defense  of  the  Gentile  world  he  tells  us 
that  it  was  a  branch  taken  from  an  "  olive  tree, 
wild  by   nature,   and  was  grafted  into   the  tame 
olive  tree  contrary  to  nature,"  is  it  then  a  won- 
derful thing  that  he  who  is  to  dedicate  his  life 
to   the  grafting  in  of  this   "  wild  olive  branch  " 
into  the  tame  tree  —  is  it,  I  say,  a  wonderful  thing 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  99 

if  he  himself  shall  be  grafted  into  the  apostleship 
unnaturally  and  out  of  order?  Accordingly,  we 
hear  him  saying  of  his  apostleship,  "  and  last  of 
all  He  was  seen  of  me  (note  the  significant  state- 
ment), as  of  one  born  out  of  due  time"  (or 
irregularly).  So  that  his  work  having  to  do 
largely  with  the  grafting  in  of  a  "  wild  olive 
branch,"  it  will  be  only  in  harmony  with  the  whole 
arrangement  for  him  to  be  grafted  into  the  apos- 
tleship. With  this  understanding  of  the  matter, 
then,  we  have  twelve  the  natural  and  proper  num- 
ber for  the  Hebrew  people,  chosen  regularly  and 
in  due  time,  and  one  grafted  in  "  out  of  due  time  " 
in  perfect  harmony  with  the  arrangement  whereby 
the  Gentiles  are  to  be  grafted  into  the  "  house- 
hold of  faith  "  under  his  apostleship. 

We  must  speak  next  of  the  ascension  as  one 
of  the  great  facts  in  the  chain  of  Christian  doc- 
trine. Shortly  before  the  crucifixion,  according 
to  John,  while  talking  to  the  apostles  of  His  de- 
parture, Jesus  told  them  that  they  "  knew  where 
He  was  going,  and  the  way."  They  astonished 
Him  by  saying  that  they  did  not  know  where  He 
was  going,  nor  did  they  know  the  way.  He  then 
enters  into  quite  a  lengthy  explanation  of  the 
matter,^  ending  with  his  prayer  in  the  seventeenth 
chapter.  He  tells  them  that  He  is  going  away. 
That  it  is  expedient  that  He  go  away.  That  He 
will  give  them  another  comforter.  That  this  com- 
forter will  guide  them  into   all  truth.     That  he 

2  John  —  Chapters  14,  18. 


100  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

will  abide  with  them  forever.  That  he  is  the 
Holy  Spirit.  That  he  shall  come  from  the  Fa- 
ther. That  Jesus  is  first  to  return  to  the  Fa- 
ther and  then  send  him  to  them  from  the  Father. 
That  when  he  comes,  he  will  bring  a  message  of 
testimony  to  them  from  the  Father's  presence  con- 
cerning Jesus. 

Having  seen  Jesus  pass  through  the  tomb  and 
stand  forth  triumphant  in  the  resurrection,  they 
needed  no  further  testimony  so  far  as  Jesus' 
mission  in  the  world  was  concerned,  nor  did  they 
want  any.  But  they  did  need  a  message  from 
the  Father  to  tell  them  whether  "  this  same 
Jesus  "  whom  they  had  known  and  loved  so  ten- 
derly on  the  earth  had  actually  ascended  back 
to  the  Father.  And  had  actually  been  received 
of  the  Father.  And  was  the  actually  crowned 
and  anointed  King  of  this  kingdom.  And  this  is 
the  bit  of  new  testimony  —  the  connecting  link  — 
the  evidence  which  the  Holy  Spirit  is  able  to  bring 
them  from  the  Father  concerning  this  newly 
crowned  King.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  able  to  say 
to  them  that  all  is  well  in  heaven  as  well  as  on 
the  earth  concerning  this  same  Jesus.  He  is  able 
to  say  to  them  that  when  Jesus  passed  beyond 
their  vision.  He  was  escorted  into  the  presence 
of  the  Father,  and  there  the  angelic  chorus  burst 
forth  into  singing  — 

"  All  hail  the  power  of  Jesus'  name. 
Let  angels  prostrate  fall: 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  101 

Bring  forth  the  royal  diadem, 
And  crown  Him  Lord  of  all. 

That  being  dispatched,  He  (the  Holy  Spirit) 
had  come  to  bear  this  message  to  them  and  to  re- 
deem the  latest  promise  Jesus  had  made  in  com- 
ing to  abide  with  them  forever.  To  endue  them 
with  all  power,  and  to  lead  and  guide  them  into 
all  truth. 


VIII 
THE  BAPTISM  OF  THE  HOLY  SPIRIT 

ACTS -^2:1-13 

The  text  here  cited  contains  an  account  in  brief 
of  the  events  of  the  first  Pentecost  following  the 
resurrection. 

We  shall  designate  the  first  event  of  this 
memorable  day  as  "  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Spirit."  This  day  might  also  be  called,  and  prop- 
erly so,  too,  the  birthday  of  the  church  or  the 
inauguration  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  among 
men.  It  has  also  been  designated  the  beginning 
of  the  fulfillment  of  prophecies  spoken  by  many 
of  the  later  prophets  in  Israel.  All  of  which  is 
but  to  say  the  same  thing  of  this  occasion,  the 
greatest  event  of  which  was  the  marvelous  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

However  great  and  necessary  we  have  seen  the 
resurrection  to  be,  this  event  is  certainly  not  less 
important.  It  differs  in  nature  and  belongs  to 
a  different  class  of  miracles;  yet,  miracle  it  is, 
nevertheless,  and  wonderful  in  its  interest  and 
significance  to  us. 

If  it  were  necessary  that  Jesus   should  enter 

102 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  103 

the  tomb,  the  strongest  hold  of  Satan  and  the 
greatest  fear  and  foe  of  the  human  family,  and 
come  forth  into  life  again,  that  the  possibility  of 
the  resurrection  might  be  thus  demonstrated  in 
theory,  it  was  no  less  necessary  that  this  miracle 
should  occur  so  that  that  which  had  had  a  theor- 
etical demonstration  might  have  a  universal  ap- 
plication. If  man's  faith  must  rest  upon  one 
positive  demonstration  of  the  resurrection,  in  the 
person  of  Jesus,  man's  active  service  is  to  be  se- 
cured and,  consequently,  his  soul  saved,  by  the 
practical  and  universal  application  of  the  Spirit 
of  life,  applied  first  to  the  apostles  and  through 
them  to  the  whole  human  family. 

Moreover,  a  mere  theory  of  the  resurrection, 
demonstrated  in  one  who  was  not  only  "  Son  of 
man,"  but  already  "Son  of  God,"  could  not 
fully  satisfy  those  of  us  who  are  simply  and  only 
sons  of  men.  To  suffice,  the  theory  must  be  given 
universal  application  to  those  who  are  simply 
and  only  "  clay  of  our  clay  "  and  "  bone  of  our 
bones."  Hence,  this  great  miracle  is  not  less  in 
importance,  when  we  consider  the  real  place  which 
it  occupies  in  the  scheme  of  human  redemption, 
than  the  resurrection  itself. 

Furthermore,  if  Jesus  arose  from  the  dead,  it 
was  to  say  to  his  disciples,  "  Behold  my  hands 
and  my  feet,  that  it  is  myself."  "  Handle  me  and 
see;  for  a  spirit  hath  not  flesh  and  bones,  as 
you  see  me  to  have."  In  simple  words,  "  I  am 
the  same  Jesus  now  that  I  was  before  my  death." 


104*  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

That  he  walked  with  them  forty  days,  conversed, 
ate  and  drank,  thus  mingling  with  them  in  the 
most  intimate  way,  there  can  be  no  doubt.  That 
they  knew  him  as  the  same  Jesus  whom  their  rul- 
ers had  crucified  there  is  no  question.  The  mir- 
acle of  the  resurrection  had  wrought  no  notice- 
able or  essential  change  in  him.  He  was  neither 
more  the  "  Son  of  God,"  nor  was  he  less  the  "  Son 
of  man,"  by  the  experience  of  the  resurrection 
miracle. 

But  here  is  a  miracle,  probably  not  less  in 
importance,  though  differing  in  nature,  since  it 
fills  an  entirely  different  gap,  performs  a  differ- 
ent function  relative  to  the  salvation  of  men.  A 
look  into  it  discloses  wonderful  changes  wrought 
upon  the  individuals.  So  much  so  that  they  are 
not  the  same  individuals,  save  in  physical  appear- 
ances, that  they  were  before  the  experience  of  this 
miracle. 

These  changes  are  deep  and  vital,  going  to  the 
very  heart  of  things  and  creating  new  personal- 
ities. The  apostles,  by  the  experience  of  this 
miracle,  are  radically  changed  in  all  the  most  im- 
portant essentials  that  go  to  make  up  a  person- 
ality, so  that  they  are  different  beings  after  this 
miracle  than  they  were  before.  The  thought  of 
former  occupation  is  forgotten.  The  plan  to  re- 
turn to  their  homes  in  Galilee  is  submerged  in 
consciousness.  Their  feeling  of  timidity,  in  the 
absence  of  their  Leader,  is  obliterated.  The  cus- 
tom of  giving  place  to  some  Jewish  rabbi  in  the 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  105 

assembly  is  trampled  beneath  their  feet,  with  no 
consciousness  on  their  part  of  having  done  any- 
thing improper  or  out  of  order. 

But  this  is  not  all :  they  now  possess  character- 
istics that  were  unknown  not  only  to  their  former 
personalities,  but  hitherto  unknown  to  any  indi- 
vidual simply  a  human  being.  They  are  speak- 
ing in  a  universal  language,  or  in  a  language  so 
as  to  be  universally  understood.  If  there  had 
been  the  confusing  of  languages  centuries  before 
at  the  tower  of  Babel,  and  the  scattering  of  the 
human  race  to  the  four  winds  of  the  earth,  here 
is  the  fusing  of  the  languages  of  men  at  Mt.  Zion, 
in  the  city  of  our  God.  And  it  is  to  be  the  means 
by,  and  medium  through,  which  all  peoples  and 
kindreds  and  tongues  are  to  be  gathered  into  one 
commonwealth  —  the  kingdom  of  the  Lord  and  his 
Christ  —  and  are  to  be  taught  to  speak  the  one 
language  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  —  peace  on  earth 
and  good  will  to  men. 

But,  further,  these  men  now  have  power  to 
think  the  thoughts  of  God  and  express  them  in 
simple  language,  so  as  to  be  understood  by  men. 
This  had  been  a  difficult  matter  at  times,  even 
for  the  great  Master  Teacher.  To  think  the 
thoughts  of  God  was  both  easy  and  natural  to 
him.  But  to  express  them  so  as  to  be  understood 
by  men  was  not  easy  at  times.  Consequently,  it 
is  said  of  him  at  different  times :  "  Then  opened 
he  their  understanding,  that  they  might  under- 
stand the  things  which  he  spake  unto  them."     Or 


106  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

again :  "  What  I  do,  thou  knowest  not  now,  but 
thou  shalt  know  hereafter."  Of  his  auditors  it 
is  often  said :  "  They  knew  not  what  the  things 
were  which  he  spake  unto  them."  But  here  are 
men  possessed  with  a  power  to  speak  the  truths 
of  God  in  a  way  easily  comprehended  by  all. 
And  these  are  men  that,  before  this  miracle,  were 
the  most  ordinary,  even  illiterate.  How  do  we 
account  for  it.?  Not  only  so,  but  here  are  men 
possessed  with  a  power  to  speak  the  Word,  and 
even  the  most  unwieldy  laws  of  nature  bow  in 
humblest  submission.  The  diseased  are  cured. 
Miracles  are  wrought  in  every  realm  of  nature. 
Men  are  blessed  or  cursed  at  the  word  of  the 
apostles.  They,  like  Jesus,  are  able  to  pass  out 
or  in,  "  the  doors  being  shut."  They  have  ceased 
to  be  the  same  beings  that  they  were  before  this 
miracle.  The  world  has  lost  its  fascination  to 
them.  They  are  living  in  the  realm  of  God's 
ideas.  They  are  reveling  in  the  realm  of  his  pur- 
poses now.  Their  chief  desire  is  that  God's  plans 
shall  now  be  put  into  operation  among  men ;  that 
the  will  of  the  Father  shall  be  done  on  earth  as 
it  is  in  heaven.  They  now  have  a  superhuman 
vision,  a  superhuman  purpose,  a  superhuman 
tongue,  a  superhuman  knowledge,  a  superhuman 
power  of  touch  and  a  superhuman  boldness. 

We  must  now  seek  for  the  significance  of  this 
wonderful  change  and  demonstration  of  seeming 
divine  favor  upon  these  twelve  men.  They  are  hu- 
man beings,  but  they  are  more  —  they  have  been 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  107 

taken  up  from  the  human  into  another  and  higher 
realm.  Thej  are  a  new  type  of  being  now.  A 
new  species,  if  you  please.  They  are  the  first 
complete  and  finished  product  of  a  new  species  in 
the  realm  of  being.  Individually,  they  are  mem- 
bers, parts  or  variety  of  the  whole.  Collectively, 
they  constitute  an  organic  unity  or  whole  —  the 
body  of  Christ  —  the  church  —  in  the  world,  with 
his  Spirit  dwelling  in  and  fully  possessing  the 
body. 

This  view  of  the  incident  is  in  perfect  harmony 
with  God's  method,  both  in  nature  and  revelation, 
so  far  as  we  are  able  to  see;  viz.,  that  things  be- 
gin by  miracle  and  continue  by  natural  law. 
Here,  however,  is  where  the  issue  is  taken  with 
Mr.  Darwin  and  his  disciples  of  the  evolutionary 
hypothesis.  We  do  well  to  note  this  issue  in  these 
days  when  the  evolutionary  theory  has  been  cun- 
ningly and  stealthily  worked  into  all  the  natural 
sciences  and  philosophies  of  the  educational  sys- 
tems and  institutions  of  learning  of  Germany  and 
England,  and  in  many  of  our  own  land,  by  the 
craftiness  of  these  evolutionary  rationalists.  In 
many  instances  it  is  not  only  in  the  secular,  but 
in  the  religious  institutions  of  learning  as  well. 
So  much  so  that  good  men,  in  hundreds  of  in- 
stances, have  come,  seemingly  unconsciously,  to 
assume  that  the  evolutionary  hypothesis  has  been 
proven  or  is  susceptible  of  successful  demonstra- 
tion. To  verify  this,  one  need  but  to  glance  at 
the  articles  in  many  of  the  leading  magazines  of 


108  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

the  day,  in  most  of  the  late  books  of  fiction  or, 
in  fact,  in  largely  all  of  the  new  books  that  are 
being  put  out,  except,  occasionally,  when  a  re- 
ligious writer  has  the  courage  to  speak  his  con- 
victions. 

The  evolutionary  hypothesis  teaches,  contrary 
to  fact,  reason  or  experience,  either  in  nature  or 
in  revelation,  that  new  species  come  into  being  as 
a  result  of  slight  variations  according  to  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  survival  of  the  fittest  (strongest).  It 
allows,  however,  for  the  possibility,  not  to  say 
probability,  of  a  miracle  in  the  creation  of  the 
first  organic  life.  But  it  will  not  admit  of  any 
such  unreasonable  and  unthinkable  thing  as 
a  miracle  after  the  creation  of  the  first  life- 
cell. 

On  the  other  hand,  our  principle  holds,  as 
above  stated,  that  the  various  species  and  types 
of  being  with  which  we  are  everywhere  surrounded 
in  nature  and  revelation  have  been  produced  by 
miraculous  acts  of  a  wise,  providential,  benevo- 
lent God.  That  these  species,  having  originated 
in  miracle,  continue  by  natural  law.  In  other 
words,  our  explanation  of  nature  and  revelation 
is  of  such  a  character  as  to  allow  God  to  work 
in  nature  and  revelation  both  by  miracle  and 
natural  law,  or  in  any  other  way,  for  that  mat- 
ter, which  He  may  choose  or  which,  by  the  facts. 
He  is  shown  to  have  done.  The  evolutionary 
theory  assumes  to  prescribe  for  God  the  exact  way 
in  which  He  shall  work  in  nature  and  revelation. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  109 

Prescribing    for    Him,    it    thus    proscribes    Him. 
This  no  Christian  writer  will  knowingly  do. 

So,  as  God  in  the  beginning  miraculously  made 
a  perfect  man  (Adam;  not  a  cell,  moneron  or 
a  monkey),  that  he  should  be  a  first  and  complete 
product  of  a  new  type  of  being  —  a  human  be- 
ing —  full  grown  and  fully  developed,  with  all  the 
powers  of  manhood,  and  then  placed  him  under 
the  laws  natural  to  his  nature,  so  has  he  here 
miraculously  created  another  new  type  of  being 
—  a  Christian  bevng  —  full  grown  and  fully  de- 
veloped, with  all  the  powers  of  Christian  being. 
And  he  immediately  places  him  under  the  laws 
natural  to  his  Christian  nature,  in  the  church, 
with  the  divine  ordinances  and  Christian  services, 
as  a  realm  in  which  he  can  grow  and  exercise  his 
powers. 

There  is  a  popular  belief  that  the  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  is  for  all  who  would  be  Chris- 
tians, and  should  be  experienced  by  each  as  evi- 
dence of  genuine  conversion,  pardon  and  accept- 
ance with  God.  Now,  it  is  plainly  to  be  seen  that 
such  a  contention  is  as  illogical,  unphilosophical 
and  unnatural  as  it  would  have  been  for  Adam's 
children  to  have  refused  to  live  because  they  were 
not  miraculously  created  full  grown,  as  their  fa- 
ther had  been.  No ;  Adam  was  created;  they  are 
born.  Adam  was  created  full  grown;  they  are 
born  and  must  grow  to  manhood  if  they  are  ever 
to  become  men,  Adam  had  to  be  a  man ;  you  and 
I  may  or  may  not  be. 


110  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

These  apostles  were  miraculously  created  full- 
grown  Christians ;  you  and  I  are  born  into  the 
household  of  faith  —  infants  in  weakness  —  and 
must  grow  if  we  would  attain  to  mature  Christian 
being.  They  had  to  be  Christians  ;  you  and  I  may 
or  may  not  be. 

Jesus  said  to  Peter,  "  When  thou  wast  young, 
thou  girdest  thyself  and  walkedst  whither  thou 
wouldest;  but  when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shalt 
stretch  forth  thy  hands  and  another  shall  gird 
thee,  and  carry  thee  whither  thou  wouldest  not." 
This  he  said  signifying  the  martyr  death  by  which 
Peter  should  manifest  the  power  of  the  all-im- 
pelling Spirit  that  was  soon  to  take  possession 
of  him  and  impel  him,  through  his  apostolic  ca- 
reer, to  a  martyr's  death  and  to  a  Christian's 
crown.  Accordingly,  we  hear  Paul  saying,  "  For 
necessity  is  laid  upon  me;  yea,  woe  is  unto  me  if 
I  preach  not  the  gospel."  Yes,  they  had  to  be 
what  they  were  —  Christians,  You  and  I  may  or 
may  not  be.  It  is  optional  with  us.  Not  so 
with  Adam  or  with  these  apostles.  They  were 
what  they  were  by  necessity.  We,  by  the  exercise 
of  our  own  free  wills. 

Not  only  so,  but  Jesus  says  to  these  apostles, 
"  Behold,  I  send  the  promise  of  my  Father  upon 
you;  but  tarry  ye  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem  until 
ye  be  endued  with  power  from  on  high."  They 
tarried.  This  is  what  occurred.  Jesus  says 
also,  speaking  to  the  apostles,  "  John  baptized 
with  water,  but  ye  shall  be  baptized  with  the  Holy 


CHRISTIAN  BEtNG  111 

Spirit  not  many  days  hence."  Ten  days  from 
the  making  of  this  promise  it  was  redeemed  in 
the  Pentecostal  scenes  which  we  are  discussing. 
When  Peter  arose  to  speak  upon  this  memorable 
occasion  he  is  said  to  have  "  stood  up  with  the 
eleven  "  and  defended  them  against  the  charge  of 
drunkenness.  If  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
were  for  all,  it  would  seem  that  it  ought  to  have 
been  administered  to  all  in  the  company  upon  as 
important  an  occasion  as  this.  But  it  is  clear 
from  the  record  that  no  one  except  the  apostles 
received  it.  When  Peter  had  completed  his  dis- 
course the  multitude,  being  "  pricked  in  their 
heart,  said  unto  Peter  and  the  rest  of  the  apos- 
tles, 'Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we  do.'''" 
The  language  is  clear  and  indicates,  unmistak- 
ably, that  only  the  apostles  were  baptized  in  the 
Holy  Spirit. 

So,  then,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  be  received  now 
through  the  natural  processes  and  natural  laws 
for  the  development  of  the  kingdom.  It  would 
be  of  interest  to  us  to  take  up  the  consideration 
of  these  natural  laws  under  which  this  new  type 
of  being  is  to  be  placed.  But  for  the  present 
we  will  not  pursue  the  subject  any  farther.  We 
shall  close  this  discourse  with  an  analogy  calcu- 
lated to  illustrate  the  principle  here  involved. 
While  we  are  well  aware  that  analogies  are  not 
proof,  yet  this  fact  does  not  lessen  their  value  in 
the  field  of  forceful  illustration.  So  we  use  this 
one  as  a  fitting  close  to  the  present  study. 


lis  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

Here  is  my  fleshly  body,  animated  by  my  hu- 
man spirit.  My  body  is  a  living  organism.  It  is 
an  organic  unity.  The  human  spirit  animates, 
governs  and  directs  every  member  of  the  organ- 
ism. These  statements  no  sane  person  will  ques- 
tion if  only  he  knows  that  I  am  sane.  Now,  here 
is  another  fleshly  body  of  a  diff'erent  and  lower 
order  than  mine.  It  is  a  different  species,  a  dif- 
ferent type,  than  I  am.  It  may  chance  to  be  of 
the  bovine  type;  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  living 
organism,  an  organic  unity,  with  its  own  in- 
dwelling spirit  animating,  governing  and  directing 
every  member  in  the  organism. 

Now,  the  question  arises,  can  my  human  spirit 
be  put  into  the  bovine  organism?  And  if  so, 
how  can  it  be  done?  To  which  we  answer.  Yes; 
and  by  only  one  process  known  to  man.  Yet,  so 
simple  is  that  process  and  so  common  in  nature, 
that  we  had  hardly  thought  it  worthy  of  serious 
attention  in  this  connection.  In  the  first  step, 
the  bovine  spirit  must  yield  the  control  of  its  or- 
ganism. Or,  in  plain  words,  the  bovine  must  die. 
Then,  through  the  process  of  mastication  and 
assimilation  (the  natural  process  for  the  build- 
ing up  of  my  body),  the  material  of  the  bovine 
organism  may  be  made  a  part  of  my  body.  But 
when  this  is  done,  lo!  the  miracle  is  performed! 
My  spirit,  which  animates  every  particle  of  my 
body,  will  now  permeate  the  material  that  was  at 
one  time  in  the  bovine  organism.     True,  this  ma- 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  113 

terial  had  to  be  changed,  transformed,  re-created 

—  regenerated,  so  to  speak. 

Now   for  the   analogy.     Here  are   these   apos- 
tles, constituting  the  body  of  Christ  —  the  church 

—  animated,  controlled  and  directed  by  the  Spirit 
of  Christ  or  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  is  the  new 
species  or  type  of  Christian  being.  Here  is  my 
body,  an  organic  unity,  a  species  of  a  lower  or- 
der, animated  by  my  human  spirit.  Question: 
Can  the  Spirit  which  animates  this  new  type  of 
Christian  being  be  put  into  my  body.''  And  if  so, 
by  what  process.''  Yes;  and  hy  a  simple  and 
natural  process.  In  the  first  step,  my  human 
spirit  must  yield  the  control  of  its  organism;  it 
must  die,  so  to  speak.  "  The  old  man,  with  his 
deeds,  must  be  crucified."  ^  My  body,  then,  (my 
life)  dead  to  sin,  can  be  taken  into  the  sinless 
body  of  Christ  by  the  process  of  mastication  — 
faith,  repentance,  confession  and  baptism  and  as- 
similation —  virtue,  knowledge,  temperance,  pa- 
tience, godliness,  brotherly  kindness,  love  — 
wherein  dwells  the  Holy  Spirit.  But  when  this  is 
done,  lo !  the  miracle  is  performed.  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  permeating  me  now  in  a  transformed, 
recreated  and  regenerated  state.  Henceforth, 
"  It  is  no  longer  I  that  live,  but  Christ  liveth  in 
me :  and  the  life  which  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live 
in  the  faith,  the  faith  which  is  in  the  Son  of  God, 
who  loved  me  and  gave  himself  up  for  me."  ^ 
That  is  all. 

iJBom.— 6:6.  2Oal.—  ^'.20. 


114  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

And  so  the  "  first  man,  Adam,  was  made  a  liv- 
ing soul ;  the  last  Adam  [Christ]  has  become  a 
life-giving  Spirit,"  so  that  now  we  may  fitly  sing 
together  : 

"  Holy  Spirit,  faithful  guide, 
Ever  near  the  Christian's  side. 
Gently  lead  us  by  the  hand. 
Pilgrims  in  a  desert  land. 

"  Ever  present,  truest  friend. 
Ever  near  thine  aid  to  lend. 
Leave  us  not  to  doubt  and  fear. 
Groping  on  in  darkness  drear." 


IX 


THE  PROBLEM  AND  PROCESS  OF 

GROWTH  FOR  A  NEW  TYPE 

OF  BEING 

ACTS  — ll:li-iO 

We  have  considered  thus  far  in  this  series  the 
basis  for  Christian  being,  the  incarnation,  the 
resurrection,  the  forty  days'  teaching,  the  ten 
days  of  prayer  and  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  In  the  last  named  subject  we  saw  a  new 
type  of  being  brought  into  existence  in  the  per- 
sonnel of  the  twelve  apostles.  If  this  is  a  new 
type  of  being,  it  follows  that  there  will  be  a  new 
problem  and  a  new  mode  of  existence.  To  note 
this  problem  and  to  understand  the  law  whereby 
this  new  type  of  being  is  to  perpetuate  and  ma- 
ture itself  will  be  our  task  in  this  present  dis- 
course. 

As  to  the  problem.     If  an  organism  has  been 

miraculously  created  full  grown,  it  is  evident  that 

it  has  not  had  the  experience  of  growth  through 

the  different  stages  of  development  from  infancy 

to  maturity,   from  weakness   to   strength.     It  is 

also   evident    that   the    food   best   suited   to    the 

U5 


116  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

proper  development  of  the  individuals  within  the 
species,  in  the  various  stages  of  growth,  will  be  a 
big  problem.  It  is  only  by  costly  and  prolonged 
experiment  that  we  come  to  know  what  kind  of 
plant  life  is  best  suited  to  the  various  altitudes, 
longitudes,  fertility  of  soils,  regularity  and  length 
of  seasons,  etc.  Only  by  prolonged  study  do  men 
come  to  know  the  kind  of  food  best  suited  to  the 
proper  growth  of  domestic  animals  in  their  dif- 
ferent stages  of  development.  So  also  in  the 
working  out  of  a  schedule  for  the  gradation  of 
children  in  educational  systems. 

The  proper  fortification  of  the  individuals 
against  the  external  forces  that  may  seek  to  de- 
stroy, neutralize  or  swallow  up  this  new  being 
in  the  days  of  weakness  will  offer  no  little  prob- 
lem in  finding  a  place  for  itself  in  the  great  world 
of  being.  The  more  so  since  we  are  taught  that 
"  nature  abhors  a  vacuum."  This  being  true,  it 
will  be  necessary  for  this  new  life  force  to  make 
for  itself  a  place  in  the  world  of  nature.  In  this 
it  will  have  to  intrude  itself  into,  or  infringe  upon, 
the  territory  already  occupied  by  other  beings. 
This  phase  of  the  problem  will  be  enlarged  if  it 
shall  develop  that  there  arc  other  species  of  being 
in  nature  which  are  very  similar  to  this  new  form. 
Thus  we  can  see  that  the  nearer  the  approach 
to  identity,  the  greater,  more  complex  and  more 
delicate  is  this  phase  of  the  problem.  Yet,  if 
this  new  order  shall  approach  very  nearly  to  iden- 
tity with  other  species  in  nature,  but  still  main- 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  117 

tain  its  own  distinctive  individuality,  it  will 
thereby  manifest  the  power  of  its  virility. 

Now  what  are  the  facts  in  the  case?  First  of 
all,  the  apostles  were  miraculously  created  fully 
developed  products  of  this  new  type  of  being  — 
Christian  being.  I  anticipate  that  it  may  be 
urged  that  they  had  been  with  Jesus  during  His 
ministry  of  over  three  years  and  had  thus  grown 
to  maturity.  To  this  it  may  be  ansAvered  that  the 
problem  of  Jesus'  ministry  was  not  only  to  ex- 
plain the  coming  kingdom  or  religion,  but  also 
properly  to  interpret  the  religion  that  had  been ; 
the  Jewish  religion. 

If  His  ministry  formed  a  fitting  prelude  to  the 
coming  religion,  it  was  no  less  a  postlude  to  that 
which  was  passing.  If  there  was  in  it  seemingly 
the  fusing  of  the  two,  there  was  also  apparently 
the  confusing  of  not  a  few,  with  respect  to  the  lat- 
ter. This  is  seen  in  the  conversation  with  Nico- 
demus,  the  young  lawyer,  and  in  many  instances 
with  the  Pharisees.  It  is  also  apparent  in  the 
conduct  of  Peter,  in  the  use  of  his  sword  at  the 
arrest  of  Jesus,  in  his  denial  at  the  trial.  In  the 
fishing  expedition  after  the  crucifixion  and  also 
in  their  question  to  Him  at  the  last  meeting  just 
before  the  ascension. 

It  is  true  that  the  things  that  Jesus  had  said 
to  them  were  to  be  brought  to  their  memory  by 
this  new  personality  who  was  soon  to  take  posses- 
sion of  them.  But  this  could  not  be  said  to  be 
of  the  nature  of  a  normal  growth  or  development. 


118  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

Rather  was  it  the  miraculous  illumination  of  their 
minds,  and  the  Spirit's  interpretation  of  the 
things  Jesus  had  said,  in  the  light  of  the  latest 
developments,  "  He  shall  take  of  the  things  of 
mine  and  show  (interpret)  them  unto  you." 

The  point  which  I  am  wishing  to  bring  out  is 
that  these  apostles  had  not  come  up  through  the 
system  of  Christian  ethics  by  which  one  is  now 
to  attain  to  Christian  maturity,  by  normal  and 
natural  processes ;  but  that  they  had  attained 
Christian  maturity  by  the  aid  of  miracle,  and  that 
their  problem  is  now  to  produce  and  develop  to 
maturity  Christian  beings  by  some  natural  and 
normal  process. 

In  the  second  place,  they  do  not  have  a  per- 
sonal experimental  knowledge  of  the  food  best 
suited  to  the  proper  growth  and  development 
through  the  various  stages  to  maturity. 

In  the  next  place,  it  will  take  a  powerful  man- 
tle of  protection  for  this  infant,  lest  he  be  swal- 
lowed up  by  some  external  foe  or  annihilated  by 
some  force  or  combination  of  forces  out  in  the 
great  world  of  nature.  An  infant  in  the  jungles 
of  Africa  would  stand  little  show  of  coming  to 
maturity  unless  protected  in  some  way.  Moses  in 
the  bulrushes  of  Egypt  had  little  chance  of  life 
until  the  hand  of  providence,  in  the  person  of 
Pharaoh's  daughter,  spread  the  mantle  of  the 
royal  palace  over  him  as  a  shield  and  protection. 
Joseph  would  never  have  been  heard  from  had  not 
the  hand  of  providence  led  him  up  the  way  into 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  119 

the  palace  royal.  Our  "  infant  industries  "  of  a 
few  generations  ago  would  never  have  become  the 
gigantic  monopolies  that  they  are  today  had  not 
our  government  thrown  the  mantle  of  its  protec- 
tion over  them  years  ago.  You  would  not  be  the 
man  you  are  today  had  not  the  loving  hands  of 
a  kind  mother  shielded  you  in  the  days  of  youth- 
ful tenderness.  So  also  the  church,  which  is  an 
aggregation  of  individual  Christian  beings,  could 
never  have  become  the  fully  developed  and  power- 
ful institution  which  it  grew  to  be  except  under 
the  protection  of  the  apostolic  mantle.  The  odds 
were  all  against  it. 

How  different  the  children  of  the  second  Adam 
(spiritually  speaking)  from  those  of  the  first.  In 
the  beginning,  Adam  and  Eve  were  created  full 
grown.  They  never  knew  the  toys  and  joys  of 
childhood's  days.  They  understood  not  the 
proper  training  of  children  through  the  different 
stages  of  development  to  proper  manhood.  And 
what  mistakes  they  made.  What  sorrow,  shame 
and  disgrace  —  yea,  what  blackness  of  remorse 
must  have  enshrouded  their  declining  years. 
Their  home  is  the  haunt  of  a  murderer  and  at 
the  same  time  the  scene  of  the  funeral  rites  of 
his  victim.  All  this  nerve  wrecking  and  heart 
breaking  woe,  because  Adam  and  Eve  had  not 
come  through  the  experience  of  normal  childhood 
and  growth  to  maturity.  Consequently,  they  had 
not  the  art  of  properly  developing  and  cultivating 
the  temper  in  their  children.     How  different  with 


120  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

the  infant  children  of  the  second  Adam!  Even 
though  the  number  runs  up  into  the  thousands, 
born  in  a  day,  yet  are  they  "  together  and  have 
all  things  in  common."  There  is  no  fussing  over 
the  things  which  they  possess  or  the  service  which 
they  render.  Where  sin  disgraces  the  first  Adam's 
children,  virtue  graces  the  children  of  the  second 
Adam.  Thus  the  apostles  are  qualified  with 
power  and  "  spiritual  gifts  "  to  nourish  and  de- 
velop, to  shield  and  protect  the  church  in  its  in- 
fancy. 

But  another  and  perhaps  more  difficult  phase 
of  their  problem  is,  how  is  this  new  organism  to 
find  a  place  for  itself  in  a  nature  already  over- 
crowded with  similar  organisms?  Are  there  not 
many  strong  religious  organisms  already  in  pos- 
session of  all  the  space  there  is  for  such  organ- 
isms.'' What  hope  can  there  be  that  this  newly 
born  infant  organism  can  find  a  place  to  exist.'* 
What  hope  that  it  can  live  be3^ond  the  days  of 
infancy,  in  a  world  of  struggle ;  and  in  which  there 
is  the  "survival  of  the  strongest"?  How 
strongly  entrenched  behind  the  magnificent  tem- 
ple service,  the  pagan  priests !  How  vividly  they 
and  their  gods  live  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of  the 
people  throughout  the  entire  pagan  world!  How 
jealous  their  eyes,  how  ready  to  bloodshed  their 
hands,  at  the  rise  of  anything  that  shall  even  re- 
motely appear  to  be  a  rival  religion!  What 
place,  then,  is  to  be  found  for  an  organism  whose 
chief  element  is  meekness   and  humility,  in  such 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  121 

a  world  of  struggle?  But  if  there  is  no  place, 
seemingly,  for  a  new  type  of  religious  being  in 
the  pagan  world,  is  the  problem  easier  when  we 
turn  to  the  Jewish  world? 

By  no  means.  For  while  it  would  seem  that 
here  ought  to  have  been  a  field  already  well  culti- 
vated and  ready  to  bring  forth  abundantly  of  this 
new  type  of  being,  yet  the  facts  are  against  such 
a  conclusion.  The  rejection  of  Jesus  by  the  lead- 
ers of  the  Jewish  people  in  Jerusalem  had,  in  a 
very  large  measure,  set  the  great  mass  of  their 
leaders  in  all  the  synagogues  in  motion  against 
the  new  order.  In  many  instances  it  had  closed 
the  doors  of  the  synagogues  against  the  mission- 
aries of  the  cross.  So  that  of  the  great  mass  of 
the  Jewish  nation  "  only  a  remnant "  accepted 
the  teachings  and  principles  of  the  new  order. 
But  still  more. 

The  very  similarity  of  the  new  order  to  the 
Jewish  religion  complicated  their  problem  tenfold. 
Do  not  the  Jews  worship  the  same  true  and  liv- 
ing God?  Do  not  they  believe  and  teach,  honor 
and  revere,  the  same  eternal  Word  of  Truth  — 
the  Old  Testament  Scriptures?  Was  not  this 
the  only  authoritative  writing  of  the  new  order 
at  this  time?  Do  not  they  also  believe  that 
prophecy  had  pointed  to  the  coming  of  the  Mes- 
siah? How,  then,  are  these  apostles  to  lead  peo- 
ple to  discriminate  between  the  Jewish  religion  on 
the  one  hand  and  the  Christian  on  the  other? 
They  have  so  many  points  in  common  and  so  few 


12a  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

of  difference  that  the  ordinary  person  will  not 
stop  to  discriminate  on  so  small  a  point  of  dif- 
ference. The  thought  of  the  average  person  will 
be  to  classify  them  as  one  and  the  same  type  of 
being.  And  as  nature  is  no  place  in  which  to 
multiply  separate  aggregations  or  families  of 
organisms  of  the  same  species,  all  nature  will  arise 
in  rebuke  to  the  audacity  of  this  new  type  of  be- 
ing in  its  insult  to  nature  in  assuming  to  force 
a  place  for  a  separate  existence  in  nature. 

This  will  be  sufficient,  then,  to  indicate  the 
scope  of  the  problem  which  confronted  this  new 
type  of  being.  What  then  is  the  law  or  process 
by  which  this  problem  in  its  various  phases  is  to 
be  solved:  that  increase  and  maturity  shall  be 
given  to  this  new  order  of  being.'' 

We  have  indicated  before  that  the  process  is 
to  be  normal  and  natural.  But  we  must  under- 
stand more  definitely  in  what  it  consists.  First 
of  all,  the  gospel ;  the  death,  burial,  and  resur- 
rection, the  ascension  and  coronation  of  Jesus  is 
to  be  the  outreaching  force  by  which  this  new 
body  shall  manifest  its  hunger  for  food.  The 
only  food  by  which  this  hunger  may  be  satisfied 
is  the  lives  of  men  and  women  surrendered  and 
consecrated  to  this  body.  The  proper  prepara- 
tion of  such  food  for  this  organism  is  a  deep  and 
abiding  faith  in  the  Person  of  this  gospel,  a  genu- 
ine longing  for  God  in  deep  and  contrite  repen- 
tance, a  public  statement  of  this  condition  of  the 
heart    in    the    great    confession    and    a    passing 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  123 

through  the  likeness  of  Jesus'  death,  burial  and 
resurrection  in  the  rite  of  Christian  baptism. 
Then  one  has  been  brought  into  this  new  body  or 
type  of  being.  This  is  what  we  see  occurring  as 
the  second  group  of  events  on  Pentecost. 

Peter  preaches  a  sermon,  setting  forth  in  as 
clear  language  as  it  is  possible  for  one  to  do,  the 
death,  burial,  resurrection,  ascension  and  coro- 
nation of  Jesus.  The  mass  of  the  people  present, 
being  moved  by  faith  and  repentance,  express  that 
condition  of  their  hearts  by  the  great  question, 
"What  must  we  do.'*"  And  three  thousand  of 
them  sealed  their  convictions  in  the  rite  of  Chris- 
tian baptism  upon  that  occasion. 

We  would  be  glad  to  have  had  the  record  of 
the  "  many  other  words  "  with  which  Peter  led 
them  to  discriminate  between  the  "  crooked  gene- 
ration " —  the  Jews  on  the  one  hand  and  this 
new  order  on  the  other.  And  by  means  of  which 
he  finally  persuaded  these  three  thousand  to 
withdraw  from  the  one  and  join  themselves  to  the 
other. 

But  is  this  all?  When  they  have  been  thus 
taken  into  the  body  is  this  all  there  is  to  the 
process  of  increasing  and  developing  this  body.'' 

Oh  no !  This  is  only  one  part  of  the  process. 
And  though  important,  perhaps  not  more  so  than 
the  other.  Certainly  it  is  not  complete  without 
the  other  part  of  the  process.  If  in  mastication 
there  must  be  the  breaking  up  into  particles,  the 
analytic,  so  to  speak,  there  must  also  be  the  build- 


124.  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

ing  into,  by  the  process  of  assimilation,  the  syn- 
thetic, if  you  please. 

For  it  is  apparent  to  all  that  if  one  organism 
has  been  taken  into  another  without  the  process 
of  assimilation  having  done  its  work,  its  proper 
work,  that  a  deadly  conflict  sets  in  which  must 
sooner  or  later  end  in  the  death  of  one  or  perhaps 
both  organisms. 

It  is  in  Peter's  second  general  letter  that  we 
find  him  giving  the  category  of  Christian  graces 
in  this  law  of  assimilation,  as  indeed,  he  may  have 
done  upon  this  same  occasion,  for  aught  we  know. 

Taking  faith  as  standing  for  the  whole  process 
(mastication)  whereby  we  come  into  this  new  type 
of  being  and  using  it  as  a  foundation,  we  are  to 
build  into  the  life  the  various  graces  enumerated. 
By  a  glance  at  the  category  it  is  apparent  that 
these  are  of  a  nature  well  calculated  to  change  and 
transform  the  entire  personality  into  which  they 
are  inwrought. 

But  does  some  one  say  that  this  system  of 
ethics,  this  category  of  Christian  ideals  may  be 
duplicated  in  numbers  of  instances  in  the  great 
ethnic  religions?  To  which  we  answer,  then  the 
burden  of  proof  is  upon  you.  How  do  you  ac- 
count for  the  distinctiveness  of  this  organism,  the 
Christian  religion,  through  the  centuries?  But 
further,  giving  utterance  to  such  a  statement  is  a 
manifest  evidence  of  a  gross  misconception  of  the 
whole  order  of  things  in  this  new  type  of  being. 

To  summarize  then.     The  apostles  had  before 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  125 

them  a  grave  problem,  reaching  in  some  of  its 
phases  a  network  of  complexities  the  finest  of 
which  it  is  possible  to  conceive.  The  process  by 
which  it  was  solved  and  the  body  given  increase 
and  maturity  was  simple,  natural  and  common ; 
viz.,  through  mastication  (faith,  repentance,  con- 
fession and  baptism),  as  broken  up  particles  of 
a  personality  that  once  lived  in  the  flesh  (in  sin), 
men  and  women  are  brought  into  this  new  body 
where  dwells  the  Spirit  of  life.  For  is  it  not  con- 
tained in  the  Psalms : 

"  The  Lord  is  nigh  unto  them  that  are  of  a  broken 
heart; 
And  saveth  such  as  be  of  a  contrite  spirit .''  " 

Being  brought  into  the  body,  the  great  master 
builder,  the  Spirit,  takes  these  broken  up  parti- 
cles, the  "  broken  heart  and  the  contrite  spirit," 
as  material,  and  with  the  cement  of  virtue,  knowl- 
edge, temperance,  patience,  godliness,  brotherly 
kindness  and  love,  fashions  it  into  this  new  build- 
ing according  to  His  workmanship  divine.  So 
that  "  we  are  no  more  strangers  and  foreigners, 
but  fellow-citizens  with  the  saints  and  of  the 
household  of  God.  And  are  built  upon  the  foun- 
dation of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone;  in  whom  all 
the  building,  fitly  framed  together,  groweth  into 
an  holy  temple  in  the  Lord;  in  whom  we  also  are 
builded  together  for  an  habitation  of  God  in  the 
Spirit." 


126  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

"  Love  divine,  all  love  excelling, 

Joy  of  heav'n  to  earth  come  down! 

Fix  in  us  thy  humble  dwelling, 
All  thy  faithful  graces  crown. 

"  Finish  then  thy  new  creation, 
Pure  and  spotless  may  we  be; 

Let  us  see  our  whole  salvation. 
Perfectly  secured  in  thee !  " 


CHRISTIAN  LIBERALITY  MEETING 
AN  EMERGENCY 

ACTS  — 2:4:5-4:6 

"  And  all  that  believed  were  together  and  had 
all  things  common,  and  sold  their  possessions  and 
goods,  and  parted  them  to  all  men,  as  every  man 
had  need." 

The  phenomenon  set  forth  in  the  above  text 
and  other  similar  texts  is  thought  by  many  to  in- 
dicate that  the  early  church  practised  com- 
munism in  all  material  things.  That  this  was  a 
necessary  law  of  existence  for  this  new  type  of 
being;  consequently,  it  is  held  that  any  organiza- 
tion disregarding  this  law  is  not  true  to  the  orig- 
inal type  and  is,  therefore,  not  Christian  being. 
Relating  itself,  as  it  does,  to  the  very  beginning 
of  Christian  being,  it  demands  our  attention. 
The  Spirit  has  entered  the  apostles.  Peter  has 
preached  the  opening  sermon.  The  invitation  and 
exhortation  have  been  given.  Three  thousand 
have  been  masticated  into  the  body  of  Christ,  the 
church.  The  Spirit  is  animating  the  entire  body 
of  believers.     This  is  what  the  Spirit  influences 

them  to  do. 

127 


128  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

It  is  fitting,  therefore,  that  we  seek  to  ascer- 
tain the  meaning.  If  this  is  one  of  the  funda- 
mental laws  by  which  this  new  being  is  to  exist, 
we  must  know  it.  We  must  ascertain  how  it  is 
to  work,  etc.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  is  not,  then 
we  must  understand  how  it  came  to  have  the  place 
of  prominence  given  to  it  here  in  the  very  begin- 
ning of  this  new  type  of  being. 

At  the  very  beginning  of  our  problem,  we  must 
try  to  see  this  whole  situation  as  it  necessarily 
was.  We  must  know  that  we  are  in  Jerusalem  at 
the  Pentecostal  feast  of  the  Jews  —  one  of  the 
three  great  feasts  in  the  year.  We  must  know 
that  this  is  an  affair  that  law  and  custom  have 
made  a  great  occasion.  That  the  male  popula- 
tion of  the  Jews  is  bound  by  law  and  urged  by 
custom  to  attend  this  feast.  That  they  gather 
into  Jerusalem  from  all  parts  of  the  inhabited 
world.  That  in  the  passing  of  the  years  the  peo- 
ple in  Jerusalem  have  become  so  accustomed  to 
these  feasts  that  every  home  has  its  "  guest  cham- 
ber." That  every  home,  nearly,  is  open  to  receive 
guests  or  delegates  during  these  feast  days. 

We  do  not  know  just  what  the  custom  was  rela- 
tive to  the  entertainment.  Perhaps  it  was  worked 
out  to  suit  the  conditions  in  the  various  homes, 
along  a  great  variety  of  ways.  Probably  not  un- 
like the  entertainment  of  a  great  convention  in 
our  time  and  country.  The  people  had  to  be 
cared  for  in  some  way.  They  would  have  to  have 
lodging  and  meals. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  129 

The  greater  number  of  course  would  find  lodg- 
ing in  Jerusalem.  Though  some,  no  doubt,  would 
go  out  to  the  villages  and  wayside  inns  near  Jeru- 
salem for  lodging  and  such  lunching  as  might  be 
provided.  It  was  Jesus'  custom  to  go  out  to 
Bethany.  We  read  of  two  of  the  disciples  that 
were  going  to  Emmaus,  or  the  hot  springs.  Com- 
ing to  Jerusalem  year  after  year  as  many  of  them 
did,  some,  no  doubt,  would  have  their  lodging,  etc., 
arranged  for  in  advance.  The  thing  that  we  need 
to  see  here  is  that  the  matter  of  providing  enter- 
tainment for  these  people  at  these  feast  occasions, 
while  it  came  regularly,  was  nevertheless  no  little 
undertaking.  It  is  not  improbable  that  there  was 
some  system  whereby  the  matter  was  looked  after 
by  the  people  of  Jerusalem  through  a  committee 
or  some  such  plan.  Many  would  want  to  enter- 
tain their  own  friends  and  acquaintances.  Others 
would  need  to  rent  their  rooms.  Hence,  would 
probably  have  them  listed  in  such  a  way  that 
those  desiring  rooms  could  be  directed  to  them. 

Of  course  it  will  not  be  overlooked  that  we  are 
in  a  city  that  is  strictly  Jewish.  It  is  as  Jews 
that  these  people  have  thrown  their  homes  open 
to  receive  these,  their  Jewish  brethren,  during  their 
stay  in  the  city.  Although  the  Pentecostal  fes- 
tivities proper  lasted  but  one  day,  yet  many 
would  go  to  the  city  before  that  day.  And  many 
would  tarry  after  the  day  was  passed.  Espe- 
cially do  many  tarry,  having  seen  the  turmoil  into 
which  things  have  been  thrown  by  the  coming  of 


130  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  preaching  of  the  apostles. 
They  wish  to  see  the  thing  through.  To  know 
how  it  is  going  t©  come  out. 

The  apostles,  led  by  the  Spirit,  continue  a  vig- 
orous presentation  of  the  gospel,  and  especially 
of  the  fact  of  the  resurrection.  At  the  close  of 
the  first  sermon  three  thousand  have  renounced 
Judaism  and  accepted  Christianity.  At  the  sec- 
ond sermon,  the  number  is  increased  to  five  thou- 
sand men.  The  apostles  are  preaching  in  the  tem- 
ple, in  the  synagogues,  in  the  streets,  in  the  homes. 
All  Jerusalem  is  being  filled  with  the  doctrine  of 
the  resurrection. 

Jerusalem  is  the  home  of  the  Sanhedrin.  This 
is  the  body  that  is  responsible  for  the  crucifixion. 
They  are  moving  behind  the  curtains.  Most  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Jerusalem  have  been  brought, 
either  voluntarily  or  through  fear,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  Sanhedrin.  Many  will  hesitate  to  do 
anything  or  take  any  attitude  that  could  be  in- 
terpreted as  disloyalty  to  this  august  body. 
Hence,  if  those  who  have  come  to  Jerusalem,  who 
have  been  received  into  Jewish  homes  and  who  are 
recipients  of  Jewish  hospitality,  now  turn  their 
backs  upon  the  "  traditions  of  the  elders  "  to  ac- 
cept this  fanatical  teaching,  they  will  have  to 
provide  lodging  and  entertainment  for  themselves 
in  any  way  they  can.  They  are  unwelcome  longer 
in  homes  that  are  strictly  Jewish.  They  would 
have  to  go  or  they  would  be  ordered  out. 

Now  these  people,  large  numbers  of  them,  are 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  131 

from  the  commoner  walks  of  life  among  the  Jews. 
They  have  attended  the  annual  feasts  for  years, 
no  doubt.  They  have  heard  the  palaver  of  the 
priests.  They  have  seen  them  go  through  the 
various  forms,  thus  performing  religion.  They 
have  had  a  feeling  that  the  whole  performance  was 
one  that  was  set  to  fine  acting.  A  fine  system 
indeed.  Almost  perfect  in  its  plans  and  opera- 
tions. They  have  felt,  indeed,  that  many  of  the 
actors  were  very  clever  in  the  part  which  they 
took.  The  "  money  changers,"  for  instance,  were 
a  most  kind,  courteous,  clever  set  of  vulturous, 
parasitical  thieves.  They  would  rob  a  man  in 
broad  daylight,  with  a  cleverness  that  always 
brought  a  hearty  "  Thank  you "  from  the  one 
robbed.  But  after  all,  they  had  returned  from 
these  feasts  with  a  feeling  of  depression  at  times. 
They  had  watched  the  priests  perform  religion  so 
long  that  they  had  become  almost  total  strangers 
to  the  Word  of  God,  as  contained  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament Scriptures,  and  the  religion  which  it  re- 
vealed. 

When  the  Spirit  through  the  apostles  began  the 
interpretation  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures 
in  the  light  of  the  cross  of  Christ,  the  fact  of  His 
resurrection,  and  the  radiant  hope  of  life  and 
immortality  for  those  who  accept  Him,  a  school 
was  opened  to  these  yearning,  hungering  hearts 
which  they  were  loath  to  leave.  They  had  come 
to  Jerusalem  with  no  preparation  to  stay  beyond 
a  few  days.     They  now  desired  to  remain  under 


132  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

the  teaching  of  the  inspired  apostles  until  they 
should  be  led  from  their  old  misconceptions,  to 
a  clear  understanding  of  the  Old  Testament  Scrip- 
tures and  of  the  Will  of  God  as  revealed  in 
Christ.  The  apostles  were  explaining  to  them 
"  the  mystery  of  Christ,  which  in  other  ages  was 
not  made  known  to  the  sons  of  men  as  it  was  then 
revealed  unto  the  Holy  Apostles  and  Prophets  by 
the  Spirit."  ^  In  the  face  of  this  simple,  clear 
cut,  vital  teaching,  thousands  of  these  converted 
Jews  determine  to  remain  right  there  indefinitely, 
or  until  they  feel  that  they  can  return  to  their 
homes  with  clear  conceptions  on  these  matters. 

It  is  in  view  of  these  circumstances  and  condi- 
tions that  it  became  necessary  for  them  to  be  "  to- 
gether and  have  all  things  in  common,  ...  to 
sell  their  possessions  and  goods  and  divide  them 
to  all  men,  as  every  man  had  need."  The  clos- 
ing verses  of  Acts  2  must  be  understood  rather 
as  sumTTiary  statements  of  what  is  taking  place 
in  the  days  succeeding  Pentecost  than  as  a  spe- 
cific account  of  what  takes  place  upon  any  par- 
ticular day  or  days.  There  seems  to  be  no  way  by 
which  we  can  tell  the  length  of  time  covered  by 
these  summary  statements. 

There  is  another  element  that  enters  as  an  in- 
fluencing factor  in  the  situation  here.  Either  in 
their  loyalty  to  Christ  and  enthusiasm  for  the 
work,  or  because  they  expected  his  immediate  re- 
turn, or  possibly  both,  many  thousands  of  the 
tEph.—  S:5. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  133 

first  adherents  of  the  gospel  became  preachers. 
So  that  in  a  later  day,  when  the  vast  congrega- 
tion that  had  been  built  up  in  Jerusalem  by  the 
preaching  and  labors  of  the  apostles  was  scat- 
tered, it  is  said  of  them,  "  Therefore,  they  that 
were  scattered  abroad,  went  everywhere  preach- 
ing the  word."  ^  Two  things  may  be  pointed  out 
here.  First,  it  will  require  a  considerable  length 
of  time,  even  under  the  teaching  of  the  apostles, 
for  one  to  be  qualified  to  go  out  as  a  preacher  of 
the  gospel ;  second,  if  one  is  going  out  as  a  min- 
ister of  the  gospel,  he  will  not  care  for  nor  want 
to  be  burdened  with  his  property.  He  will,  there- 
fore, sell  it  and  place  the  price  in  the  apostles' 
hands,  to  be  used  in  meeting  the  general  expense 
or  in  providing  for  the  needs  of  others  who  may 
want  to  enter  the  ministry,  but  have  not  the  means 
to  do  so. 

It  is  not  many  days  after  Pentecost  till  the  dis- 
ciples are  thrown  upon  their  own  resources 
and  have  to  provide  for  their  own  expenses  in 
every  way.  Those  who  were  property  owners  in 
Jerusalem,  and  who  had  become  disciples,  were 
taxed  a  hundred  times  beyond  their  ability  to 
entertain  all  those  who  desired  to  remain  in  the 
apostles'  school ;  yet,  with  the  opposition  which 
the  Jews  are  manifesting  toward  the  cause  of 
Christ,  there  is  nothing  for  the  infant  church  to 
do  but  provide  for  its  own.  It  is  an  emergency 
that  must  be  met.     And  it  is  to  be  said  to  the 

2Acts  —  S:i. 


134  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

praise  of  these  people,  and  in  evidence  of  the  genu- 
ineness of  their  faith,  that  Christian  liberality 
arose  to  meet  the  emergency. 

We  read  in  this  connection  that  "  the  multi- 
tude of  them  that  believed  were  of  one  heart  and 
one  soul.  Neither  said  any  of  them  that  ought 
of  the  things  which  he  possessed  was  his  own; 
but  they  had  all  things  common.  And  with  great 
power  gave  the  apostles  witness  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  Lord  Jesus.  And  great  grace  was 
upon  them  all.  Neither  was  any  among  them 
that  lacked.  For  as  many  as  were  possessors  of 
lands  or  houses  sold  them,  and  brought  the  prices 
of  the  things  that  were  sold,  and  laid  them  down 
at  the  apostles'  feet,  and  distribution  was  made 
unto  every  man,  according  as  he  had  need."  Spe- 
cial mention  is  made  of  one  Joseph  (better  known 
as  Barnabas,  the  preacher,  exhorter  and  mission- 
ary companion  of  Paul)  who  having  a  posses- 
sion, sold  it  and  gave  the  price  to  the  apostles. 
(Probably  he  did  this,  expecting  to  dedicate  his 
life  to  the  work  of  the  church.)  Many  others  did 
the  same  thing. 

Then  we  are  told  also  of  one  Ananias,  with 
Saphira  his  wife,  who  sold  a  possession  and  en- 
tered into  an  agreement  to  attempt  to  deceive  the 
apostles  and  the  church.  They  brought  a  part 
of  the  price;  and  lied  to  the  apostles  by  saying 
that  it  was  all.  They  paid  the  penalty  for  their 
falsehood  with  their  lives.  The  first  attempt  at 
deception  and  hypocrisy  in  the  church  was  thus 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  135 

rebuked  by  death.  But  the  question  that  con- 
cerns us  in  this  is,  did  the  apostles  require  that 
one  give  all  his  material  means  as  a  necessary  con- 
dition to  entering  into  this  body  of  Christians? 
While  from  the  incident  some  might  so  infer,  yet 
the  language  of  Peter  is  clear  and  unmistakable 
on  this  point. 

"  Why  hath  Satan  filled  thy  heart  to  lie  to  the 
Holy  Spirit ;  and  to  keep  back  a  part  of  the  price 
of  the  land?  While  it  remained,  was  it  not  tJiine 
own?  And  after  it  was  sold,  was  it  not  in  thy 
power?  .  .  .  You  have  not  lied  unto  men,  but 
unto  God."  It  is  clear  from  the  language,  that 
Peter  knows  that  Ananias  knew  he  was  under 
no  law  or  obligation  to  give  all  his  means  to 
the  church  unless  he  wished  to  do  so.  But  it 
is  also  clear,  that  as  a  member,  he  was  under  the 
most  positive  obligation  to  speak  the  truth  under 
all  circumstances.  It  is  highly  important  that 
the  church  have  enough  material  means  to  meet 
its  necessary  expenses.  But  it  is  vastly  more  im- 
portant —  yes,  it  is  absolutely  imperative  —  that 
the  church,  which  is  the  "  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
truth,"  shall  have  a  truth  telling  membership.  It 
is  not  the  property  that  Peter  is  concerned  about, 
but  the  absolute  falsehood  that  has  been  told. 
This  was  a  violation  of  one  of  the  fundamental 
laws  upon  which  all  Christian  being  rests. 

In  the  many  instances  in  which  individuals  are 
inquiring  the  terms  of  admission  into  the  king- 
dom, no  apostle  or  early  disciple  ever  made  the 


136  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

matter  of  selling  one's  property  and  giving  it  to 
the  church  a  condition  of  entering  into  the  church. 
In  all  instances  where  the  matter  of  giving  to 
support  the  work  of  the  church  is  emphasized  by 
the  apostles,  it  is  always  assumed  that  it  is  to  be 
done  on  the  basis  of  a  man's  willingness  and  in 
proportion  to  his  ability.  There  is  no  mention 
of  a  communism  related  to  the  church  outside  the 
city  of  Jerusalem;  indeed,  if  we  grant  that  this 
was  communism,  even  there. 

We  think  it  will  be  granted,  then,  when  the 
whole  situation  is  taken  into  consideration,  that 
this  was  simple  Christian  liberality  arising  to  meet 
an  emergency.  That  it  was  no  essential  part  of 
the  fundamental  law  of  Christian  being.  That  it 
has  been  repeated  hundreds  of  times  in  the  devel- 
opment of  Christian  history.  And  that  it  will 
continue  to  be  a  phenomenon  relating  itself  to 
Christian  conduct.  That  wherever  the  need  is 
great,  there  great  Christian  hearts  will  overflow  in 
a  liberality  that  will  meet  the  need. 


XI 

A  MIRACLE  WROUGHT  THAT  THE 
KINGDOM  MIGHT  GROW 

ACTS  — 3:1-26 

We  direct  your  attention  to  the  study  of  the 
third  chapter  of  Acts.  This  is  the  first  recorded 
miracle  wrought  by  the  apostles  after  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  church ;  and  is  followed  by  the 
second  discourse.  The  general  statement  is  made 
near  the  close  of  the  second  chapter  that  "  many 
wonders  and  signs  were  done  by  the  apostles." 
This  statement  is  made  in  connection  with  the 
statement  that  "  they  were  constantly  attending  to 
the  teaching  of  the  apostles,"  "  that  they  contin- 
ued daily  in  the  temple,"  etc. 

Now  these  we  take  to  be  general  summary  state- 
ments of  the  things  that  were  happening  in  Jeru- 
salem in  the  days  following  the  establishment  of 
the  church  on  Pentecost.  It  was  during  these 
days  that  the  liberality  of  the  early  church  was 
so  manifest  in  meeting  the  needs  of  the  circum- 
stances, as  we  have  seen  in  our  last  discourse. 

But  now  in  this  third  chapter,  the  author,  hav- 
ing made  general  statements,  takes  up  a  particu- 

137 


138  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

lar  incident  —  the  miraculous  healing  of  a  crip- 
ple. He  holds  it  up  to  our  view,  with  the  results 
that  follow;  viz.,  the  preaching  of  a  sermon  and 
the  conversion  of  "  five  thousand  men."  -^  So 
that  we  have  as  our  subject,  "  A  Miracle  Wrought 
That  the  Kingdom  Might  Grow."  As  it  was  said 
of  Jesus,  "  This  beginning  of  miracle  did  Jesus 
in  Cana  of  Galilee,  and  manifested  His  majesty 
(power),  and  His  disciples  believed  on  Him";  so 
may  it  now  truly  be  said  of  the  apostles,  "  This 
beginning  of  miracles  did  the  apostles  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  displayed  the  majesty  (power)  of  the 
church,  and  thousands  believed  on  Jesus  and  be- 
came Christians." 

But  standing  as  this  does  at  the  genesis  of  the 
new  age  or  order  of  things,  there  are  certain  ques- 
tions that  press  upon  us.  If  we  were  at  the  be- 
ginnings of  the  old  age  and  saw  a  man  mirac- 
ulously brought  into  being,  full  grown,  the  ques- 
tion naturally  would  arise:  how  is  this  new  order 
to  be  perpetuated?  If  we  wish  to  reproduce  a 
man  in  this  new  order,  is  it  to  be  always  by 
miraculously  bringing  forth  a  full  grown  man.'' 
Or  standing  at  the  genesis  of  the  new  age  and  be- 
holding a  miracle  wrought  upon  the  poor  cripple, 
we  naturally  ask  to  what  purpose  has  this  been 
done?  Is  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  always  to 
be  attended  by  the  working  of  miracle?  Or  are 
there  attending  circumstances  that  furnish  the  oc- 
casion for  miracle?  We  have  spoken  in  general 
"i-  Acts  —  4:4. 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  139 

upon  this  previously.  But  as  this  is  a  specific 
case  we  deem  it  not  out  of  place  to  give  it  special 
attention;  the  more  so  since  it  is  the  genesis  of 
miracles  in  the  new  age. 

Peter  and  John  are  going  up  into  the  temple 
at  the  afternoon  hour  of  prayer.  The  incidents 
of  Pentecost,  the  preaching  of  the  apostles,  and 
the  conversion  of  thousands  from  the  old  Jewish 
faith  to  the  Christian  faith,  have  caused  great 
commotion  in  Jerusalem.  Thousands  of  the  Jews, 
who  came  to  Jerusalem  to  attend  the  Pentecostal 
festivities,  have  remained,  breathlessly  waiting 
and  watching  the  developments  in  this  new  order. 
Hundreds,  and  even  thousands,  are  coming  out  of 
Judaism  into  Christianity  as  the  days  go  by. 
The  members  of  the  Sanhedrin  are  not  a  little 
exercised  over  the  turn  which  things  have  taken. 
They  would  gladly  sing  the  doxology  and  pro- 
nounce the  benediction  if  they  could  thereby  dis- 
perse the  people.     But  they  cannot. 

A  few  days  ago  these  same  people  saw  the 
Sanhedrin  triumphant  and  supreme,  while  Jesus 
bowed  low  in  death  upon  the  cross.  The  Sanhe- 
drin was  loud  in  its  praise  of  God,  while  Jesus  was 
silent  within  the  tomb.  But  a  mighty  change  has 
taken  place.  These  same  people  have  seen  Jesus 
triumphant  in  the  resurrection,  and  the  Sanhedrin 
has  gone  into  the  tomb  (their  private  chamber 
in  the  temple)  never  to  come  forth  into  life  and 
power  again.  But  entombed  as  dead  men  while 
yet  living,   they   are  destined  to  do   considerable 


140  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

squirming  around  before  they  give  up  the  ghost. 
And  this  they  do,  as  seen  in  the  persecutions  in- 
stigated in  and  directed  from  their  council  cham- 
ber a  few  days  later. 

As  Peter  and  John  appear  before  the  beautiful 
gate  of  the  temple,  there  comes  to  their  notice 
this  poor  cripple,  whom  kind  hands  had  brought 
and  placed  at  this  conspicuous  entrance  to  the 
temple  that  he  might  become  an  object  of  pity  and 
compassion  to  those  entering  for  worship,  and 
thus  receive  whatever  alms  they  might  give. 

Hundreds  of  people  are  pressing  the  entrance 
to  the  temple.  If  something  can  be  done  by 
means  of  which  the  mind  of  the  people  can  be 
concentrated  and  the  attention  rivetted  upon  the 
apostles,  it  will  give  them  opportunity  to  speak 
to  the  multitude.  It  will  put  them,  so  to  speak, 
between  the  multitude  and  the  Sanhedrin.  Peter 
and  John  are  quick  to  discern  the  situation.  No 
sooner  do  they  discern  than  they  launch  into  it 
with  all  the  earnestness  of  their  souls,  energized 
by  the  Spirit  of  their  Master. 

The  miracle,  then,  was  the  cause  of  turning 
the  mind  of  the  multitude  from  the  thought  of 
entering  the  temple  for  prayer  to  the  apostles, 
and  furnished  them  the  opportunity  of  preaching 
to  the  people.  It  was,  therefore,  no  essential  part 
of  the  gospel  as  some  are  wont  to  claim. 

But  there  is  another  phase  of  this  subject  that 
needs  a  word.  In  our  modem  cults,  which  claim 
that  miracles  of  healing  are  an  essential  part  of 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  141 

the  gospel  and  should  accompany  the  work  of 
the  church  of  today,  there  is  a  loud  demand  for 
faith  upon  the  part  of  the  one  who  is  to  be  healed. 
In  all  unsuccessful  attempts  (of  which  there  are 
many)  the  responsibility  for  the  failure  is  ex- 
plained as  due  to  the  lack  of  faith  upon  the  part 
of  the  patient.  So  we  are  led  to  look  into  this 
phase  of  the  subject  just  here  at  the  beginning  of 
miracle  in  this  new  order  of  being. 

Did  this  cripple  have  faith  that  he  was  going 
to  be  healed?  Was  there  any  expectation  of  be- 
ing healed  upon  his  part.'*  Indeed,  does  not  the 
whole  appearance  of  things  teach  us  that  the  op- 
posite was  true?  If  he  knew  or  even  believed 
strongly  that  he  was  going  to  be  healed,  imme- 
diately, he  would  not  be  at  the  gate  begging  for 
alms.  For  he  was  a  man  grown,  and  able  to  earn 
his  bread  if  he  had  not  been  a  cripple.  But  in 
the  very  moment  of  being  healed,  he  looks  upon 
Peter  "  expecting  to  receive  something."  And  as 
if  to  make  the  case  still  stronger  against  these 
modem  faith  healers,  Peter's  opening  words  make 
it  clear  that  he  knew  the  thoughts  of  the  cripple 
at  that  very  moment,  nor  did  Peter  utter  one 
word  of  rebuke  to  him  for  his  lack  of  faith  and 
his  thought  of  receiving  financial  aid.  Peter 
tells  him,  plainly  though  kindly,  that  he  had  no 
money ;  but  that  such  as  he  had,  he  would  give  to 
him  freely  and  unconditionally.  Then  he  com- 
mands him  by  the  authority  of  Jesus  Christ  to 
arise  and  walk,  and  he  did  so.     Here  is  a  mani- 


14.a  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

festation  of  the  power  of  Christ  that  will  impel 
a  cure,  without  the  requirement  of  faith;  and 
even,  if  necessary,  against  faith.  Here  is  an  at- 
testation of  the  divineness  of  the  church  that 
will  cause  men  to  take  notice,  and  that  will 
"  multiply  the  believers."  So  the  faith  or  worthi- 
ness of  this  man,  even  granting  that  he  was 
worthy,  which  perhaps  no  one  will  question,  yet 
these  must  not  neither  can  they  properly  be  as- 
signed as  the  reason  why  he  should  be  favored 
with  this  special  divine  blessing  of  healing. 
There  were  thousands  of  others,  no  doubt,  who 
were  as  worthy  as  he.  And  no  reason  can  be  as- 
signed why  he  should  become  a  subject  of  divine 
favor,  aside  from  the  fact  that  his  healing  will  af- 
ford an  occasion  for  the  preaching  of  the  word 
to  the  multitude. 

The  fact  that  the  miracle  of  healing  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  immediate  preaching  of  a  sermon, 
the  normal  method  of  extending  the  kingdom,  is 
further  evidence  that  the  miracle  of  healing  was 
only  incidental. 

So  we  shall  understand  that  miracles  in  the 
apostolic  age  had  just  about  the  same  place  that 
the  helping  hand  of  a  mother  has  when  her  in- 
fant is  learning  to  walk.  She  gladly  assists  so 
long  as  he  strives  to  walk  alone.  But  she  confi- 
dently expects  him  some  day  to  be  able  to  walk 
without  her  aid.  Nor  is  she  usually  disappointed 
in  her  hopes.  So,  too,  our  Savior  was  willing  to 
aid  the  church  by  miracle  in  the  days  of  its  in- 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  143 

fancy.  But  He  did  so  confidently  expecting  that 
the  church  would  one  day  stand  out  in  all  the 
strength  and  fullness  of  its  majesty;  and  so  com- 
mend itself  to  every  man's  conscience  as  not  to 
need  longer  to  hobble  along  upon  the  crutch  of 
miracle.  Nor  was  He  disappointed  in  this,  for 
even  at  the  close  of  the  apostolic  age  the  church 
had  largely  laid  aside  the  aid  of  miracle  and  was 
going  into  all  the  world,  standing  upon  its  own 
merits ;  viz.,  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
life  it  produced  in  the  hearts  of  Christians. 

Before  the  close  of  the  apostolic  age  Christ 
was  reigning  so  supremely  in  the  hearts  of  Chris- 
tian people  everywhere  that  from  this  citadel  of 
power  and  influence  He  needed  not  the  aid  of 
miracle  to  bolster  up  the  work  of  the  kingdom. 
This  was  as  it  should  be.  The  time  was  to  come 
that  when  the  gospel  was  proclaimed  the  strongest 
inducement  to  its  acceptance  was  to  be,  not  mir- 
acle, not  temporal  "  loaves  and  fishes,"  but  the 
Christianized  life  in  the  virility  of  its  resurrec- 
tion hope  —  a  life  transformed  by  the  power  of 
Christ's  presence  continually  abiding  in  the  heart 
by  faith. 

We  hear  Paul  saying  to  the  Corinthians,  "  You 
are  our  epistle  .  .  .  known  and  read  of  all  men 
.  .  .  written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  Spirit  of 
the  living  God,  not  on  tablets  of  stone,  but  in 
fleshly  tablets  of  the  heart."  Yes,  the  gospel  was 
preached  by  the  apostles  and  early  disciples,  but 
in  a  practical  and  popular  sense;  it  was  read  in 


144  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

the  lives  of  the  early  Christians  long  before  it  was 
ever  written  or  read  in  the  New  Testament. 
Christ  was  proclaimed  in  the  gospel  message, 
trtie!  But  it  was  from  the  lives  of  consecrated 
Christians  in  the  humble  walks  of  life  that  He 
spoke  His  most  telling  and  forceful  message. 

So  it  is  today  and  ever  will  be.  The  minister 
speaks  his  message  of  Christ  to  the  world.  But 
Christ  speaks  His  own  message  to  the  world  from 
the  lives  of  all  Christians.  After  all,  this  is  the 
message  which  the  world  hears  and  heeds.  The 
ministry  numbers  few,  but  Christians  are  legion. 
The  minister  speaks  once  in  the  week;  the  Chris- 
tian speaks  each  day  and  each  moment.  "  What 
you  do  speaks  so  loudly  that  I  cannot  hear  what 
you  say,"  is  perhaps  truer  of  Christians  today 
than  ever  before.  What  a  church  does,  speaks 
so  loudly  in  the  community  that  the  people  sel- 
dom ever  hear  what  the  minister  says.  So  we  are 
in  the  day  not  of  the  infancy,  but  of  the  maturity 
of  the  church.  Whether  it  will  or  not,  it  must 
stand  upon  its  own  feet  —  its  own  merits  —  its 
own  deeds.  It  must  walk  without  the  aid  of 
crutches. 

But  we  must  look  at  the  sermon,  briefly,  be- 
fore we  close.  When  the  Spirit  came  upon  the 
apostles  we  are  told  that  the  appearance  was  in 
tongue  form  "  like  as  of  fire."  The  tongue  would 
indicate  the  instrument  they  were  to  use  in  the 
proclamation  of  the  message.  The  fiery  appear- 
ance would  indicate  the  purifying  power  of  the 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  145 

gospel  In  the  heart  of  the  believer.  We  are  not 
to  presume  that  we  have  here  the  full  sermon. 
Perhaps  only  a  brief  summary.  But  we  see  Peter 
using  those  forces  whereby  there  is  to  be  the  nor- 
mal increase  of  the  church.  The  tongue  as  the 
instrument;  the  death,  burial  and  resurrection  of 
Christ  as  the  message  of  God  unto  salvation. 

The  preaching  is  substantially  here  as  in  his 
first  discourse.  Perhaps  the  closing  exliortation 
is  more  to  the  point.  Having  preached  to  them 
that  they  were  the  betrayers  and  murderers  of 
the  "  Prince  of  life,"  he  therefore  exhorts  them, 
as  in  his  former  sermon,  to  change  their  minds  in 
repentance  and  their  state  in  obedience  to  Christ. 
"  Repent  ye,  therefore,  and  turn  again  (to  the 
Lord  in  obedience)  that  your  sins  may  be  blotted 
out,  that  so  there  may  come  seasons  of  refresh- 
ing from  the  presence  of  the  Lord."  The  last 
clause  is  not  found  in  the  Pentecostal  sermon. 
We  will  therefore  notice  it  briefly. 

What  condition  of  mind  were  they  in  that  they 
needed  "  seasons  of  refreshing  from  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  "  ?  Peter  was  not  talking  for  ora- 
torical effect.  Nor  was  he  "  beating  the  air." 
But  as  any  faithful  minister  will  do,  so  had  he 
done.  He  had  moved  around  among  the  people 
to  whom  he  was  to  preach.  Had  learned  some- 
thing of  the  condition  of  their  minds  at  that  very 
time.  He  knew  that  but  httle  more  than  fifty 
days  before  these  same  Jews  (many  of  them  at 
least)    had  been   there   at   the   great  "  Passover 


146  THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF 

feast."  That  that  innocent  man,  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, who  was  living  not  only  according  to  the 
letter  of  the  law,  but  who  was  also  living  a  spir- 
itual interpretation  of  the  law  that  was  the 
marvel  of  the  age,  had  also  come  to  the  feast. 
That  he  had  been  hounded  by  these  Jews ;  fol- 
lowed by  day  and  by  night,  overshadowed  and 
arrested  in  the  darkness  and  secrecy  of  the  night. 
That  the  Sanhedrin  had  called  an  irregular  and 
illegal  session.  That  a  heresy  trial  had  been 
hurried  through  in  the  night  time.  That  the  in- 
nocent man  had  fallen  a  victim  to  official  bigotry 
and  religious  prejudice  and  was  condemned  by 
the  highest  ecclesiastical  tribunal.  That  when 
the  crucial  moment  came  (and  all  the  powers  and 
sentiment  available  had  been  brought  to  bear  upon 
Pilate ;  and  he  yet  was  vacillating  and  unde- 
cided) that  when  he  finally  was  minded  to  let  him 
go  and  asked  the  mass  of  the  Jews,  "  What  shall 
I  do  with  Jesus  ?  "  that,  with  blood  in  their  eyes 
and  murder  in  their  hearts,  they  had  cried  out 
with  one  accord,  "  Crucify  Him.'* 

He  knew  that  Pilate,  still  hesitating  and  receiv- 
ing the  message  from  his  wife,  came  out  before 
the  multitude  and  washed  his  hands,  saying  to 
them,  "  I  am  innocent  from  the  blood  of  this  just 
person.  .  .  .  See  ye  to  it."  That  they  then, 
with  one  voice,  cried,  "  His  blood  he  upon  us,  and 
on  our  children.'* 

Peter,  with  sword  in  hand,  had  been  through 
all  these  scenes  a  few  days  before.     He  knew  that 


CHRISTIAN  BEING  !¥! 

many  of  these  Jews  to  whom  he  was  speaking,  had 
been  in  the  mob  at  that  time.  He  knew  that  un- 
der the  mighty  weight  of  their  guilt  they  had 
spent  the  intervening  days  restlessly  and  the 
nights  sleeplessly.  That  their  consciences  were 
goading  them  by  day  and  haunting  them  by 
night.  That  there  had  been  no  rest  for  them 
since  the  rash  deed  had  been  committed.  It  is  in 
the  knowledge  of  these  experiences  that  Peter 
says,  with  a  volume  of  meaning  to  the  words, 
"  Change  your  minds  and  the  relationship  of  your 
hearts  toward  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  that  so 
there  may  come  seasons  of  refreshing  from  the 
presence  of  the  Lord." 

Yes,  they  needed  seasons  of  refreshing  sleep. 
And  seasons  of  quietude  of  mind  and  peace  of 
heart  during  the  day.  Yes,  the  blood  of  Jesus 
was  mightily  upon  them :  there  was  no  escape  from 
it  for  them,  seemingly.  Nor  is  there  for  you  and 
me.  It  may  be  appropriated,  but  it  cannot  be 
repudiated.  It  will  follow  us  by  day  and  by  night 
even  as  it  did  them.  If  not  appropriated,  it  will 
haunt  us  in  death ;  and  condemn  us  in  eternity. 

He  that  despised  Moses'  law  died  without  mercy 
upon  the  testimony  of  two  or  three  witnesses : 
"  Of  how  much  sorer  punishment  suppose  you  he 
shall  be  thought  worthy  that  hath  trodden  under- 
foot the  Son  of  God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood 
of  the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was  sanctified,  an 
unholy  thing." 

The     miracle     is     wrought.     The     sermon     js 


148  CHRISTIAN  BEING 

preached.  The  exhortation  is  given.  And  the 
blood  is  appropriated  by  the  thousands  who  heard. 
For  we  are  told  that  "  the  number  of  men  came  to 
be  about  five  thousand." 

"  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood, 
Drawn  from  Immanuel's  veins: 

And  sinners  plunged  beneath  that  flood. 
Lose  all  their  guilty  stains. 

"  The  dying  thief  rejoiced  to  see 

That  fountain  in  his  day; 
And  there  may  I,  though  vile  as  he. 

Wash  all  my  sins  away. 

"  O  Lamb  of  God,  thy  precious  blood 

Shall  never  lose  its  power, 
Till  all  the  ransomed  Church  of  God 

Be  saved,  to  sin  no  more." 


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